A New Beginning
by crazysilverkitty
Summary: The original X-men, now grown, return to the Institute for a reunion. They don't however, count on thier children running away, and in the process getting themselves in mortal danger. Pairings: Kurtty, Lancitty(read and figure it out)Jott, Jubby,Romy.
1. Drake, Triss, and Nate

A New Beginning  
  
Chapter 1- Drake, Triss, and Nate  
  
Kitty Wagner jolted awake due to an aching pain in her back. It had been a rough night for her, as were most nights lately. She was nine months pregnant, and was tired of sleeping being a chore. She glanced at her alarm clock. It read 6:45. She had better start getting the kids ready for school. She shook Kurt.  
  
"Kurt, wake up dear," Kitty whispered. Kurt grumbled something and yawned. He then sat up, and stretched his arms and his tail. "Awwww man," Kurt moaned in his thick German accent, "School time already?"  
  
"Unfortunately," answered Kitty.  
  
Kurt stepped out of bed, and started towards the door of their room.  
  
"Kurt?" Kitty sighed.  
  
"Yes?" he asked, his eyes still slightly squinted from sleep.  
  
"Help," she chuckled, holding her hand in the air.  
  
Once Kurt had gotten his pregnant wife on her feet, he said, "I'll get the twins, you get Drake."  
  
Drake was sixteen. He had brown hair, tan skin, and brown eyes, just like his father. Kurt was not Drake's father. Before being married to Kurt, Kitty had been married to Lance Alvers. She never had gotten over divorcing him. The truth was, she still loved Lance, and missed him often. She had gotten married to him when she was nineteen, and she'd had Drake around the end of that year. Luckily, Lance had finished college by then, so Kitty could go to school by day, and come home at night. But, being on opposite teams, the two got in many arguments. The fighting became worse, especially with them both having such bad tempers. It soon became unbearable, and they also didn't want Drake growing up in an irritable and argumentative environment. The couple, it seemed, fought for no reason at all as time progressed. So, with heavy hearts, Kitty and Lance decided they would rather be apart and happy, than together and unhappy. Kitty remembered walking out of the court room with the two year old Drake by her side. She remembered the tears coursing down her face as she and Lance walked in opposite directions. Drake was crying, and wanted to know where his Daddy was going. Kitty sat on a bench for a moment, trying to deal with her emotions. Then she heard a voice she hadn't heard in nearly three years.  
  
"Kitty?"  
  
She looked up and saw Kurt's very confused face.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked. Then Kitty threw her arms around his neck, and sobbed uncontrollably. They had never been apart since.  
  
Drake spent half of the week with his mother and the other with his father. They split the week on Saturday so both Kitty and Lance had some of the weekend with him. Kitty came to a door at the end of the hallway. When she opened the door, she saw a typical room for a sixteen year old boy. As she looked to one corner, her eyes met four others. These were the eyes of Malcolm and Eddie, Drake's two pet ferrets. They curled back up as Kitty looked to the sleeping form of Drake. She tried gently shaking him awake as she whispered, "Drake, sweetie, time for school." This attempt failed, as she suspected it would.  
  
Then she tried shaking him a little harder, and this time speaking louder said, "Drake, wake up, it's time for school."  
  
This attempt failed like the first one. Sighing, Kitty's attention turned to his alarm clock, which he always forgot to set. She set the clock for 6:48, one minute from now. She waited for a bit, then counted, "Three, two, one," and immediately the clock started beeping loudly. Drake groaned, and then mumbled, "I'm up, I'm up."  
  
He stood, and pushed a button on the clock, but being sleepy he accidentally knocked it off the table. Kitty started to pick it up, which had become a slow process with pregnancy.  
  
"I'll get it," said Drake, "you don't need to be bending down like that. Plus, it takes you forever."  
  
Drake smiled as he put the clock back in its place. Kitty reached up and ruffled his hair.  
  
"Will you go set the table please?" she asked.  
  
"Sure thing, Mom," he answered.  
  
Kitty gazed wistfully back at her son as he left the room. Was this the child she had carried for nine months? Was this the baby she had held in her arms? Was this the small three year old she knew from yesterday? Yes, this was the little three year old, who was taller than she was.   
  
Kurt padded towards a door in the middle of the hallway. As he opened it, he saw a room that was split in half. One side of the room was a light purple, with turquoise dragonflies painted here or there. A couple posters were hung in certain places. The other half of the room's paint color was unrecognizable, due to posters plastered every where. This bedroom belonged to Triss, and Nathaniel (who preferred to be called Nate). As Kurt walked over to Triss's bed, he saw a little lump travel up to her pillows. He then saw the head of a little black and white Chihuahua peek out from under the covers. This was Pippin, a little dog filled with much personality, who was always ready to supply laughs. He bent over to wake up Triss, when Pippin sailed off the bed and raced after something. Kurt laughed as he said, "Pippin, leave poor Gracie alone." As he said this, a silver tabby leaped up onto Nate's bed, with the fur on her tail standing on end. The whole family was convinced that Gracie was insane.  
  
Kurt then said, "Trissy, time for school,"  
  
Triss mumbled to herself as Kurt went to wake Nate. As he approached the bed, the crazy cat jumped backwards, in order to get away from him. She ended up landing on Nate's head. Nate moaned and said something.  
  
"Typical," Kurt said as he turned to see if Triss was awake yet.  
  
Nothing, as he suspected. He turned back Nate, and he was asleep again too!  
  
"Not again," Kurt groaned.  
  
"Need some help?" Kitty asked as she laughed.  
  
"Yes," Kurt answered, "As always."  
  
Then, Kitty and Kurt heard some thing from under the covers. Suddenly, the twins leaped out of their beds yelling,  
  
"LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Then they fell to the floor laughing hysterically.  
  
"We... got you... once again," laughed Triss.  
  
"You..should....have seen...the look...on your face..Mom!" Nate said, on the verge of tears from laughing so hard.  
  
"I thought Dad.....was gonna fall over....he looked so....scared!" Triss gasped.  
  
"Alright, alright, very funny," Kitty stated, trying hard not to let Triss and Nate see that she was about to laugh, as well as Kurt. "You crazy children go downstairs and help your brother with breakfast."  
  
Triss and Nate then started chanting in a singsong voice, "You know you wanna laugh, you know you wanna laugh."  
  
Kitty then burst out laughing as the twins left the room. Kurt's laughter followed Kitty's as they listened to the thirteen year olds' giggles echo down the hallway.  
  
"They're little pranksters, just like their father," Kitty laughed.  
  
"Well, seventh graders are like that," Kurt chuckled.  
  
"They're not seventh graders for long," Kitty sighed, "at the end of the day, they'll be eighth graders." Kitty always acted like that on the last day of school, first day of school, and holidays. She saw her children growing up, Drake was going to be a Junior in high school, and the twins only had one more year in middle school. It was a joyful, yet sad experience at the same time.  
  
Triss and Nate had blue skin and tails like their father. Triss's skin and fur was lighter than Kurt's, sort of wedge wood blue, and the end of her tail was more rounded. Nate's fur was more like his father's, and his tail was too. Triss took more after her mother in personality, while Nate's personality was all his own. Though f he was more like one than the other, though, it would have to be Kurt.  
  
As Kitty and Kurt walked down the hall, they saw a shy Siamese cat named Oliver. When Kitty reached as far down as she could (this wasn't much) Oliver stood on his hind legs so she could pet him. Kitty was a veterinarian, which explained the abundance of animals in the house.  
  
"Hi, sweet Oliver," Kitty said in baby talk to the blue eyed cat. "Are you hungry?"  
  
Oliver mewed in response. Kitty began talking to him again.  
  
"Then let's get some foodies for the sweet kitty boy."  
  
Kurt laughed as he listened to his wife baby talk to the cat. She did this often to all the animals. They made their way into the kitchen where Triss and Nate where causing much noise. They were ecstatic because it was the last day of school. As Drake set the cat's food down on the floor for his mother, Kitty asked, "Did everyone remember to feed their animals?"  
  
All three children simultaneously said, "Oops!" and raced upstairs to feed them. Then Kitty put some bread in the toaster, and busied herself with some scrambled eggs. She was determined to cheer herself up a bit. Meanwhile, Kurt was pouring orange juice into the three cups sitting on the table.  
  
Kurt ported out of the room to go get the mail. He was back in a moment,(accidentally carrying the jug of orange juice) just as the kids came stampeding down the stairs to the breakfast table. Kurt set the mail down as he went to get some lesson plans he had left upstairs. Kurt was a pre-k teacher. The kids really seemed to respond to his funny personality.  
  
Kitty leafed through the mail. Junk, bills, and more bills. Then she came across an envelope. It read her and Kurt's address and was written in calligraphy on very fine stationary. She knew that writing from somewhere, it was on the tip of her tongue. "C'mon, think Kitty," she thought to herself as she opened the letter.  
  
You're invited to  
A reunion at the Charles Xavier Institute  
On May 30th.  
  
This was all Kitty needed to see before bolting to the bottom of the stairs and yelling,  
  
"KURT, KURT COME HERE!"  
  
The kids wanted to know what the heck their mother was so happy about. Kurt popped right in front of Kitty, wanting to know why his wife was yelling up the stairs.  
  
"What is it?" Kurt asked, looking concerned. Kitty handed him the note, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"Read it ,"she told him. All three kids at the table were baffled.  
  
"What do you think is going on?" Drake asked Nate.  
  
"Something stupid, I'm sure," mumbled Nate who had seen this kind of excitement before.  
  
"I haven't seen that place in years!" Kurt exclaimed.  
  
"Usually, when one of 'em says something like that," Triss nodded towards her father, "we're going somewhere boring and historical." Drake and Nate nodded in agreement.  
  
"Whaddya say we make a run for it?" Drake whispered.  
  
"Let's go!" hissed Triss. They all crept quietly off to the door. Triss and Nate grabbed their hollow watches as they went. Once they were out of the house, they raced for the bus stop at the corner of the street before their parents could find they were gone.  
  
Kurt walked into the kitchen, beaming.  
  
"Hey kids, guess wha-." and stopped short.  
  
"Wonderful," Kitty said sarcastically to an empty kitchen. "They've made a run for it."  
  
"I bet they think were going somewhere boring." said Kurt.  
  
"And historical." Kitty added. Kurt nodded. They both smiled.  
  
"That place couldn't be boring if it tried." Kitty laughed.  
  
"Nope," Kurt shook his head in agreement. 


	2. Kaye

Disclaimer:Sorry, forgot disclaimer for chapter one, so this counts for both chapters. I don't own anything. Everyone else is smart and rich and I'm not.

Chapter 2- Kaye  
  
Somewhere in the suburbs of Jackson, Mississippi, a fourteen year old girl rose sleepily from her bed. This was Kaye, a girl with thick, dark hair, big, brown, almond shaped eyes, (She had an Asian background) and braces on her teeth. She was very defensive, and had a fiery temper. School had already been out for a week here, so she had slept in. She slowly walked to her adoptive mother's room and peeked around the door. She was already up, so Kaye turned to go to the kitchen. There she found a woman with pale skin, and white bangs against her brown hair.  
  
"Ya finally decided to get up, did ya?" Rogue said in her southern accent.  
  
"What time is it?" asked Kaye, sounding much like Rogue. Even though Kaye looked nothing like her, she was the spitting image of Rogue in spirit.  
  
"Um, about ten thirty." answered Rogue, looking at the clock.  
  
"What are we having for breakfast?" came Kaye's inquiry, at the sound of her grumbling stomach.  
  
"You mean brunch." said Rogue, remarking on the time. "No idea. Go find something."  
  
Kaye was used to meals like that. She opened the fridge to see what she could find. Then she asked, with her head still in the fridge,  
  
"Mom, can we get a dog?"  
  
"Kaye, we've been over this a thousand times, no you may not get a dog!" Rogue answered firmly.  
  
"Why not?" she asked for the third time that month.  
  
"Because I said so," came Rogue's irritated reply.  
  
"How 'bout a cat?"  
  
"Kaye, you know I'm allergic to cats."  
  
"A hamster?"  
  
"If we got something, I'd want it to last for more than three years." said Rogue, becoming more agitated by the second.  
  
"A sugar glider?"  
  
"Kaye, what in the world is a sugar glider?!?!" Rogue inquired in an exasperated tone.  
  
"A little animal who loves to climb."  
  
"I've had enough of animals who love to climb." muttered Rogue, thinking of her niece and nephew, Triss and Nate. "Plus, are you even sure they're legal in the state of Mississippi?"  
  
"No, but they're legal in Texas."  
  
"We don't live in Texas!" said Rogue, wondering why her daughter was asking such questions. "Besides, everything is legal in Texas."  
  
"I know but--"Kaye argued.  
  
"Kaye, listen well, because I'm only going to say this once. We're not getting anything. You don't know a thing about animals and neither do I."  
  
Kaye then flopped down on a chair to finish her breakfast. (She had been eating some of it with her head in the fridge)  
  
Rogue and Kaye watched the T.V for a while in the kitchen until Rogue asked Kaye to go outside and get the mail.  
  
As Rogue watched Kaye walk out the door to the driveway, she remembered when she was that age. She had wanted a pet and Irene had said no just as she just had. Maybe she should think about a pet for Kaye. She wouldn't stay fourteen forever. Rogue was thinking when Kaye came back in with a stack of mail. She had divided them into stacks.  
  
"Trash," she said, stuffing the heap of advertisements into the trashcan.  
  
"Bills," she continued, laying a pile of bills on the table.  
  
"And this," Kaye finished, handing Rogue an envelope.  
  
"Whoa, look at the stationary." Kaye said as she investigated the envelope further.  
  
"I wish I could write like that." Rogue commented.  
  
"Let's open it, already!" stated an impatient Kaye.  
  
"I dunno, it looks like it's from a funeral home," her mother joked, "where were you on Wednesday again?"  
  
Kaye laughed at her mother's antics, as they opened the letter that Kitty had read, not three hours ago. After she had read the note out loud, Rogue smiled at Kaye and they both said,  
  
"Road trip."


	3. Ron and Raina

Disclaimer: See chapter 2

Chapter 3- Ron and Raina  
  
"MOOOOOOM!!" came a cry from a twelve year old girl. "MOOOOOOM, I CAN'T FIND MY SCIENCE BOOK!!!"  
  
This was Raina, a girl with rich reddish brown hair, and a slightly high pitched voice. A woman with similar hair color and voice tone briskly walked into the room looking frustrated.  
  
"Weren't you supposed to turn in all your text books last week?" Rahne asked accusingly.  
  
"Yeah, but I lost it, and today's the last day of school," she explained in a pleading manner. "If I don't turn it in by today, they won't mail my last report card."  
  
"I know, I know." she sighed, already so fed up with middle school she could scream. "I'll go get your brother and see if we can find it."  
  
She then opened the front door and bellowed, "RON! COME HERE RIGHT NOW, I NEED YOU TO HELP ME WITH SOMETHING!"  
  
Then a small wolf bounded in the door, with the newspaper hanging from his mouth. (The mail was bundled up inside the paper). He was pure black from nose to tail tip, and had black eyes that shined brightly.  
  
"With what?" asked a deeper voice, coming from a man that had come around the corner.  
  
"Science book, Roberto." answered Rahne, as Raina explained to her brother what they were looking for.  
  
"Think you can find it?" inquired Raina to her dark haired brother.  
  
"Sure." he replied, "I'll never forget that smell." Ron was thirteen, so he had had the same science book the year before. He then shuddered and said, "Mr. Gibson."  
  
Raina giggled as she thought of the teacher that the students had nicknamed "The Tormentor."  
  
Then she saw two wolves sniffing for the lost book, the black one that was her brother and a reddish brown one that was her mother. She followed the two up stairs, then down stairs, through the living room, the dining room, and halfway up the stairs again. Raina was starting to lose hope, when Ron stuck his nose in the air and dashed to the kitchen. Then he ran over to the refrigerator. Then he jumped up and down on his hind legs indicating the freezer. Raina gave him a puzzled look, and then opened the freezer. Sure enough, the book was lying on the top shelf.  
  
"Whew," Raina sighed in relief, "Thanks Ron."  
  
"No problem," answered Ron as he sat next to his father at the table.  
  
Roberto then began laughing uproariously.  
  
"Oh, c'mon Dad, it wasn't that funny," Raina frowned at her father.  
  
"Yes, it was." He gasped, continuing to laugh uncontrollably. "This happens every year. Last year, we found Ron's math book in the hamster cage."  
  
"Yeah, and then we had to pay for it, because Sammy turned it into a litter box." Rahne said, remarking on what the hamster's plans had been for the book.  
  
"Well, at least we don't have to pay for this one." Raina spoke, trying to get her mother's mind off this touchy subject.  
  
"We will if you don't watch what you're doing with that orange juice." Rahne reprimanded, pointing to a bowl of cereal that Raina was tipping dangerously.  
  
As she righted the bowl, Raina looked at her mother as if to say, "What in the world are you talking about?" and then remarked,  
  
"Mom, this is milk in the cereal, not orange juice."  
  
"Wanna bet?" her mother challenged.  
  
Raina rolled her eyes and took a bite of her cereal. Then she stopped. It had been orange juice she had poured into her cereal. Good thing she hadn't challenged her mother to a bet, because Rhane would definitely make Raina pay up if she lost. Roberto and Ron then burst out laughing when they saw the disgusted look on Raina's face. As Raina stood up to throw away the now orange cereal, Ron said,  
  
"Don't, I'll eat it!"  
  
Rahne and Raina both looked horrified, while Roberto laughed even harder, if that was possible.  
  
"It's just one of those days, Rahne." Roberto said when he saw her with her hand over her eyes as if she was afraid to look at what was going on now.  
  
Rahne shook her head as she walked up to the newspaper that Ron had left on the floor. She then saw that Ron had destroyed the front page, again.  
  
"Eeeew, Ron! You messed up the front page!" Rahne complained as she brought the mail out of the slobbery paper.  
  
"Again?!?" Roberto asked as his wife threw out the newspaper's first page. "Ron, next time, if you go and get the paper use your hands."  
  
"Dad, everyone in the neighborhood knows this family's a mutant one." Ron explained uncomfortably. "So if I get the mail as the wolf, they just think I'm the family pet, and –"  
  
"And you're saved the insults." Rahne finished, her eyes softening as her son's eyes studied the floor.  
  
"That's okay, I'll just get the mail from now on." Roberto said, putting his hand on Ron's shoulder.  
  
Ron looked relieved at this and continued eating his orange cereal.  
  
"Yeah, cause Dad can give 'em the birdie and go about his business." Raina commented, trying to lighten up the mood.  
  
"Raina!" Rahne snapped, looking directly at Roberto, "we do not give anyone the birdie."  
  
Rahne focused on the mail that, thankfully, hadn't experienced the wrath of Ron's teeth.  
  
"Roberto, do you mind paying the water bill on the way home from work?" Rahne asked, flinging an envelope at her husband.  
  
"Sure." said Roberto as he folded it and stuffed it into his pocket.  
  
"And kids, I think I hear Elizabeth and Michael." Rahne said  
  
Ron sniffed the air and said, "Yup, it's them."  
  
Elizabeth and Michael were the kids' only friends, and the four walked together to the bus stop every day.  
  
"Bye," the two chorused as they grabbed what little things they needed for the final day of school and headed for the door.  
  
When the kids had gone, Roberto noticed an envelope that Rahne had dropped. As he saw the stationary and the calligraphy, he said,  
  
"Rahne, look at this."  
  
She bent over Roberto as he opened the letter.  
  
They both smiled as they saw what the invitation read.  
  
"I was just thinking about that place, when I'd see it again."  
  
"Well, here's your chance." Rahne grinned.


	4. Will

Disclaimer: See chapter 2  
  
Chapter 4- Will  
  
"Rise and shine, sweet little Will." Bobby Drake sang in an overly perky voice.  
  
"Oh my gosh, Dad, please quit being disgustingly happy." Will groaned at his father.  
  
"Not a chance, pumpkin." Bobby trilled to his brown haired, brown eyed son. "I'm hoping my horrible rays of happy will get you out of bed quicker."  
  
"Well, it worked." Will grumbled, getting out of bed.  
  
"Of course it did." he said, doing some kind of obnoxious twirl.  
  
"Why couldn't Mom get me up instead of you?" asked Will, who was still too sleepy to laugh at his Dad's antics.  
  
"Because, she's not as full of spirit!" he answered, doing a very good impression of a cheerleader.  
  
"Okay, Bobby, leave Will alone." Jubilee chuckled, rescuing Will from his father.  
  
"Morning," Bobby said to his wife, dropping the cheerleader voice.  
  
"Morning," she replied, as they both followed Will to the kitchen.  
  
Jubilee put some bread in the toaster and took some frozen pancakes out of the freezer. Will yawned widely, after which his mother asked, "Will, how long were you up last night?"  
  
"Um, I dunno." answered the fourteen year old, hoping his mother wouldn't know the answer to that. "Sure," she said snappily. "Good luck surviving the school day on five hours sleep."  
  
"Oh c'mon, Mom, everyone knows the last day of school doesn't count for anything," Will commented.  
  
"He's right, you know," said Bobby, who was spinning a broom as if he was on drill team. He was a band director at the local high school, so he did things like this often.  
  
"Bobby!" Jubilee cried as he tossed it into the air and caught it, "Put that down before you break something!"  
  
Just as she said that, the end of the broom collided with a glass that was sitting on the counter. It shattered into a million pieces as it hit the floor. Bobby then made a mad dash for the dustpan before his wife killed him. Jubilee sighed as she put a plate of pancakes on the table, carefully avoiding the mound of broken glass that Bobby was sweeping off the floor.  
  
"Bobby, could you go and get the mail?" Jubilee asked her husband as she brought a jug of milk out of the refrigerator.  
  
"Yes, of course." he answered quickly. He was grateful to get away from her at the moment, in fear that she was still mad about the glass.  
  
When Bobby came back in, they all sat down to eat and both Jubilee and Bobby took a look at the mail. They rolled their eyes at the heap of junk mail they had gotten and threw it away. Then, the two looked over bills with comments like, "I thought we already paid that!" and "Whoa, you've got to be kidding me!"  
  
As they came to the end of the stack, Bobby grabbed the envelope and said, "Hey, Jubes, check this out!"  
  
"What?" she asked, looking over his shoulder.  
  
Soon Will had also appeared at Bobby's side, and was just as curious as his parents to open the envelope. Bobby opened it, and he and Jubilee looked at for a moment before saying, "Let's get packing." 


	5. We Meet Again

Disclaimer: See chapter 2. (Can you tell I hate typing?)  
  
Chapter 5- We meet again  
  
Jean Summers was extremely busy. It was May 30th, and everyone was working hard, preparing for the many guests that were coming for the reunion. She was putting an abundance of food into the refrigerator, when she heard a frantic cry from upstairs.  
  
"Mommy!" she heard from a little redheaded girl who stood on the threshold of the kitchen. This was Rosie Summers, a little five year old, who was the mirror image of her mother.  
  
"Mommy," she continued, "Joel cut off all of Susan's hair to make hair stew, and then he stole all her clothes!"  
  
Susan was Rosie's favorite doll, and Jean already knew she would never hear the end of this.  
  
"And guess what else he did?" Rosie howled to Jean. "When I asked him why he took all my dolly clothes, he said that Susan was privileged 'cause she could go naked!" She said this all very fast.  
  
Jean tried very hard not to laugh, so as not to upset her daughter more than she already was.  
  
"JOEL!" she hollered to her thirteen year old son. "JOEL, GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"  
  
Joel came thundering down the stairs and into the kitchen at the sound of Jean's angered voice.  
  
"Joel, why did you do that to Susan?" Jean asked her son.  
  
"Because it was funny." he answered, laughing uncontrollably.  
  
"Give back Susan's clothes, and her hair too." Rosie pouted.  
  
Immediately, Joel handed Rosie a pile of doll clothes and hair from behind his back.  
  
"Thank you." Rosie said, with her nose stuck high in the air.  
  
As Rosie stomped up to her room, Jean spoke to Joel.  
  
"Son, you know we're all busy today, and we don't need any more fiascos like this, understand?"  
  
"Yes." Joel answered reluctantly.  
  
"Now, why don't you go outside and see if Storm and Tom need help with the garden," Jean suggested.  
  
Joel ran outside and saw Storm with a very small rain cloud raining over a variety of flowers and bushes. He also saw a fifteen year old boy waiting for Storm to finish watering the plants so he could work with them. This was Thomas Brooks, a boy with blond hair and brown eyes. Tom could control the growth of plants by speeding up or slowing down different types of tropisms.  
  
"Hey guys, need any help?" Joel asked, pretending to be interested. The two scanned the yard, looking for anything that he could help them with.  
  
"I don't think so, Joel." Tom answered, giving the yard another look, "but thanks anyway."  
  
"I think your Dad needs help straightening up the upstairs though." explained Storm.  
  
"Ok, thanks." said Joel gloomily at the mention of another task.  
  
"You're welcome." she chuckled, catching the disappointment in his voice.  
  
Joel looked at the clock; it was about twenty minutes before people would start to arrive. He walked upstairs to find Wolverine trying to get his room in a presentable manner. He laughed as he passed by. Everyone knew how Logan kept his room, so Joel didn't understand why he needed to clean it. He then came upon his parents' room, where he found his father just finishing up cleaning.  
  
"Hey, Dad," Joel greeted. "Need help?"  
  
"You actually want to?" Scott asked, not quite believing his ears.  
  
"No, but Mom made me," he answered.  
  
"I thought so." Scott laughed. "No I'm about done. You can go watch T.V. for -," he paused to look at his watch, "seventeen minutes."  
  
"Yes!" Joel hissed as he left the room.  
  
As he was watching T.V, Joel heard Storm and Tom come in. He looked at the clock - ten minutes. He waited five minutes before he heard a car pull up outside. He turned off the television, and walked into the foyer to see who had arrived. He hadn't seen most of these people since he was little, so he suspected he wouldn't remember them. He saw a woman with brown hair and white bangs enter the Institute. Beside her was an Asian girl, who looked like you wouldn't want to meet her on a dark night.  
  
"Rogue!" he heard his mother say before hugging the stranger.  
  
"Now, what kind of a name is Rogue?" Joel whispered to himself.  
  
"Oh my gosh, this is Kaye?" He heard Jean continue in surprise. As the adults conversed, Joel sat at the foot of the stairs, bored to death. The girl named Kaye walked up to him and sat down next to him.  
  
"Kaye." she spoke holding out her hand.  
  
"Joel." he said shaking her hand.  
  
They sat in silence for about five minutes before they heard voices outside on the side walk. Kaye heard one of them, and looked as if she was bracing herself for something. Joel was wondering why when two kids burst through the door yelling, "AUNTIE ROGUE!"  
  
The woman fell to the floor panting, "Choking, not breathing."  
  
Then as Joel burst out laughing at the two, a pregnant woman walked in and snapped, "Triss, Nate, you know better! Get off your Aunt, now!"  
  
As the two leaped up, they both asked in unison, "Where's Kaye?"  
  
"Hiding from you, I'm sure." answered a voice with a German accent.  
  
Another two Joel didn't know came in (Kurt and Drake) as Triss and Nate tackled Kaye in glee. The excitement just grew as more came. The Drake family arrived, and afterwards a much older Jamie. At the moment, most were sorry they had ever excluded him from anything, because Jamie had turned out to be a successful and nice looking guy. The kids had all gotten together in a little group and were all conversing happily.  
  
Then they saw a back wolf come barreling in chasing a Frisbee thrown by his sister. The two were followed in by their parents. Ray, Sam, and Evan came around the same time.  
  
Finally, Amara arrived, asking the question everyone had. Where was the Professor? She got an answer from Wolverine, telling her he should be down any minute now that everyone was here. The talking stopped abruptly as an elevator opened and the Professor wheeled out. Everyone turned to look at him.  
  
He smiled a reflective smile and said, "Welcome, friends. We meet again." 


	6. Payback

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Thanks to all my reviewers!!!  
  
Chapter 6- Payback  
  
It was dinner time at the Xavier Institute and the dining room was bustling with activity. The table had unknowingly divided itself into two sections, adults at one end, and kids at the other. The kids had decided to go in a circle, or rather a rectangle, and get to know each other. The "circle" started with Tom.  
  
"Um, I'm Thomas Brooks, I'm fifteen, people call me Tom, obviously. I come from Fairfax, Virginia. I'm sorta shy. I like rock music, Linkin Park's my fav. My favorite color? Green, I guess. My favorite foods I guess are steak, fries, and I dunno. And I control the growth of plants." he finished quickly.  
  
The rest nodded at the reserved teenager and continued with Ron.  
  
"Hey, I'm Ron DaCosta - not Ronald, just Ron. I'm thirteen, me and my sister come from Pasadena, California. I like dark blue and, along with Tom, I like rock. I don't have a favorite group though. My favorite foods are bacon, sausage, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, pepperoni pizza, turkey, ham, bologna- "  
  
"Ok, Ron, we get it!" Raina said impatiently to her slightly carnivorous brother.  
  
"Sorry," he continued, "I like chasing Frisbees, and I love to swim, and I like running, and I can turn myself into a wolf." he ended in a hyper manner, after which a black wolf appeared in his place.  
  
"Right, now that that's over," Raina said, remarking on her brother's odd narration, "I'm Raina DaCosta, and I'm not as crazy as my poor brother. I'm twelve, I like light green, and I love Evanescence. Foods, I like pretty much any kind of junk food. I like tennis, and I don't have a power yet."  
  
Next was Kaye. She sat for a moment before speaking.  
  
"I'm Kaye, I am fourteen, and I live around Jackson, Mississippi. I love black, punk rock, hush puppies, catfish and, anything that burns your mouth to a crisp. I like to channel surf, and read. My favorite books are Dracula and anything Stephen King. I have no mutant power. I also like volleyball, and I think Carebears are the spawn of Satan." she said this in a monotone voice and with an expressionless face.  
  
Everyone except Triss, Nate, and Drake were a little freaked by Kaye, and decided to move on as quickly as possible.  
  
"Ok, I'm Joel Summers, and I live here at the Institute with my family, Tom, Professor Xavier, Storm, and Wolverine. I'm thirteen. That seems to be a popular age doesn't it? Anyway, I like the color red, and just like every one else, I like rock." "Boys!" Kaye complained, remarking on how all the boys listened to the same music  
  
"For food," Joel continued, "I like potato chips, pizza, and anything with sugar in it. I like to play all sports, and have no power yet." he finished.  
  
This time it was Will's turn.  
  
"I'm William Drake, please don't call me William, call me Will. I'm crazy, it's fun though. I'm fourteen, and I'm from Seattle. Blue is my favorite color, and I like ice cream. Mostly, I watch T.V and play video games, I tried snowboarding once, but I nearly killed myself. Lastly, I do ice stuff, like my Dad." After he finished he placed an ice Carebear in front of Kaye to show off his power. But unfortunately for Will, Kaye had a good aim. She threw it at him and hit him right between the eyes.  
  
"Ok, break it up!" Triss spoke firmly to her cousin.  
  
"Yeah, or we'll do what my Dad says every time two students bicker," Nate continued, "You two sound like an old married couple, you bicker much more I'm just gonna make you marry each other." he finished, doing a good impression of his father.  
  
Both Kaye and Will looked disgusted at the idea and calmed down immediately.  
  
"Right," Triss continued , "I'm Triss Wagner, me and my family live in Boulder, Colorado. I'm thirteen, like Nate, and I like pretty much every type of music. My favorite colors are pink, purple, and just about every girly color you can think of. My favorite foods are pizza, ice cream, and every thing else unhealthy. Once again, no powers. I love animals, computers, and I like to sing, even though I'm terrible at it." she ended.  
  
"You can say that again." Nate remarked on her singing.  
  
"Shut up, Nate." she snapped.  
  
He snickered before he said, "I'm Nate Wagner, I like to blast out rock music to annoy my sister. I hate the color blue, but I like red, green and black. I love burgers, tacos , and pizza. I like T.V and video games, but I also like to climb. No powers yet, and me and Triss, we're good at spying." He said this all very fast.  
  
Drake was the last to go, and so far he looked pretty bored with this place already.  
  
"I'm Drake Alvers," he said as if he couldn't have cared less. "I like navy blue, brown and black. I like most fast food, and I like driving over the speed limit.  
  
"That's a very good first impression, Drake," Triss said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
"Oh yeah, and I can create earthquakes," he finished, still looking as if he might die of boredom.  
  
Triss and Nate looked at each other in surprise and then took Drake out into the hall to have a whispered conversation with him.  
  
"Drake." Triss murmured, "We never knew that. Did you tell Mom?"  
  
"No." he answered casually.  
  
"Did you tell anybody?" hissed Nate, fearing the answer he would get.  
  
"Yeah," Drake answered, with a hint of hostility in his voice this time. "I told my Dad, why do you care?"  
  
"Because you're our brother." Triss answered, "You should know that."  
  
"You're not my real brother and sister," he spat, "so back off."  
  
As he ambled off, Nate commented, "This is good."  
  
"It's his Dad who's done this," Triss informed Nate.  
  
"I know." Nate said, "Sometimes, he looks as if he could get away with murder." Nate finished, mentioning Lance. "Should we tell Mom?" Nate asked his twin.  
  
"Something tells me she already knows." she answered grimly.  
  
After dinner, all the adults locked themselves up in a room to talk about times gone by and old adventures they had experienced when they were with the X-men. Triss and Nate were up in the air vents, Triss with a camcorder, and Nate with a walkie talkie. The camcorder had a screen that the rest of the kids were watching, and they were listening through the other walkie talkie. All the kids except Drake. Drake had seen Rogue and his mother slip off to talk separately, and had followed them to listen through the door.  
  
"Kitty what's wrong?" he heard a southern voice ask.  
  
His mother sighed and said, "It's Drake, lately he's been acting-"Kitty tried to find a word for it.  
  
"Lance-ish?" Rogue asked.  
  
"Yeah." she agreed. "He's become uncontrollable and irritable."  
  
"Just like Lance." Rogue finished. "And I suppose you knew he had powers?"  
  
"Of course I knew." Kitty said bitterly, "I was waiting for him to tell me of his own accord, but he never did. Lance is becoming a bad influence on Drake. Tonight, when Triss and Nate dragged him out in the hall way, I followed and listened from inside the dining room."  
  
Drake was already seething as Rogue told Kitty to continue.  
  
"He asked the twins why they cared about him, and when they told him he lost it and said to them that they weren't his siblings and to back off!"  
  
"I hate to say I told ya so, Kitty." Rogue said sagely.  
  
"I know," Kitty answered shakily "Lance was, and still is, trouble. I've decided to go for full custody, because I don't want Drake to turn out like Lance."  
  
That was all Drake needed to hear before sneaking away from the door, absolutely livid. His mother was always talking about those matters behind his back. But now she would rue the day she ever said those things about him and his father. He walked back down the hall to see the rest of the kids also angered by something. Triss and Nate dropped from the vents protesting too.  
  
"We're babies, huh?" Ron growled  
  
"Oh, I'm so glad the kids aren't listening, they don't need those ideas in their heads!" Will snarled, mocking his mother.  
  
Drake looked around at the fuming kids as they insulted and scorned their parents. It was then when he found the perfect opportunity to turn the tables on his mother.  
  
"Hey!" Drake whispered, "They don't think we can handle ourselves, right?"  
  
The kids nodded in agreement.  
  
"Well, why don't we show them we can?" He suggested.  
  
"How's that, genius?" sneered Kaye.  
  
"We go away for a few days, make them miss us terribly, and come back and have them begging forgiveness." he replied  
  
They thought for a moment, then Raina said, "Let's do it."  
  
'Success!' thought Drake. Because he was Kitty's son, Drake would make her feel responsible for the whole happening.  
  
The adults were talking right now, completely ignoring them, so the children took their chance and ran with it. Triss and Nate were in charge of arranging pillows and things to make decoys of them all in their beds. Ron, Tom, and Raina got mats, blankets, and shelter for their little excursion. They couldn't just go into Bayville for a few days, because the police would surely find them. Kaye, Will, and Joel took care of food and drink, and of course everyone quickly packed their own personal bags. In no time they were crossing into the woods, Drake leading, and Tom bringing up the rear. But no one noticed a small silhouette slip out of the front door to follow. In his selfish attempt to get back at his mother, Drake had lured nine innocent kids into this vengeance plan, including a five year old girl who couldn't tell the wild outdoors from the city park.


	7. The Old Fashioned Way

Disclaimer: See Chapter 2 or 5 (your pick!)

Special thanks to Tailfeather, Dracula'sGurl, and Demonrogue.

Ch 7- The Old Fashioned Way  
  
Jean woke up automatically groaning, "Rosie, please. Let Mommy sleep."  
  
Every day Rosie would come and wake her parents as soon as the little girl was awake herself. When Jean didn't hear a protest, she sat up to see golden sunlight streaming through her window. As soon as she saw this, Jean looked to her clock in alarm. It was seven fifteen; Rosie usually came in by at least six, which was usually why Jean and Scott ended up cooking most of the morning's breakfast. "Scott." Jean spoke urgently, shaking her husband. "Scott, Rosie didn't wake us up."  
  
Scott immediately leaped out of bed and followed Jean to Rosie's room. Last night, Triss and Nate hadn't put anything in Rosie's bed, because they didn't expect the five year old to follow them. At the sight of the strewn covers and empty bed, Jean cried, "She's gone!"  
  
Everyone else heard this and appeared in Rosie's room soon after.  
  
"Rahne," Jubilee asked, "Can you go sniff the doors to see if Rosie left?"  
  
Rahne nodded and then bounded down the stairs three at a time, her fur rippling from the speed at which she was going. Rahne sniffed the floor, as well as the door knobs to confirm Rosie's disappearance. Bobby opened the door for Rahne, and she sniffed just outside the door. Suddenly, the fur on the back of her neck stood on end. Rahne turned tail and raced upstairs. The others followed the wolf as quickly as they could. They found Rahne, a human now, in Ron's room, leaning against the wall for support. Rahne had ripped the quilt and sheet off the bed, revealing two pillows, a basketball, and various pillowcases, all neatly arranged to resemble Ron. All stood there for a moment, looking stricken, before scattering to their childrens' rooms. Soon, everyone was in a frenzy to follow Rahne, who was attempting to track the children in her mutant form. She dashed across the dewy grass until she came to a brook at the edge of the woods. She stopped there and turned back to a dazed human before saying, "Ron thought of this; he had them go through the creek."  
  
All stood by the stream until Kitty gasped, and dropped to her knees to fish something out of the water. She held up the dripping object, which turned out to be a strip of leather with something tied at the middle like a necklace of some sort. Of course, everyone gathered around her to see, because if a woman who is nine months pregnant drops to her knees like that, it's usually a matter of importance. Kitty's voice was quaky as she said, "It's Drake's."  
  
When she didn't say anymore, most thought her statement was pretty self explanatory. Only Kurt and Rogue knew better. Kurt knew exactly what it was, while Rogue had to question a little.  
  
"What is it?" Rogue inquired curiously, as she and Kurt helped Kitty to her feet again. "It's a rattlesnake's rattle." Kitty explained, tears welling up in her eyes. "About a year after the divorce, I took Drake to Disneyland in California with Lance. It was to show Drake everything was going to be ok." Kitty paused here, choking on her tears. She continued once she found her voice. "We found this at the hotel, just lying on the sidewalk. It was sort of a handmade souvenir."  
  
Rogue nodded in understanding until Kitty found a soaked piece of paper. She peeled it off the rattle and unfolded it carefully, revealing a message written in black ink that was barely legible. Kitty managed to see that it read:  
  
You said it would be ok. Liar.  
  
Kitty's eyes grew wide as she finished Drake's message. Tears spilled down her face as Rogue and Kurt tried to console her. It was in vain, though. Kitty let them walk her into the Institute as she wept. When the three came in, Jean caught some stray thoughts from Kitty.  
  
Kitty, you are not a bad mother. Jean told her using telepathy, saddened at her friend's opinion.  
  
"If I was good one, this wouldn't have happened!" Kitty wailed out loud before going upstairs to her room.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Later, the Institute was the picture of depression. Rahne had been outside for an hour, still trying to catch a scent, even though she knew it was useless. Her friends Amara and Jubilee eventually convinced her to come inside. Rogue was more sarcastic and defensive than usual, which was truly saying something. Roberto and Bobby finally coaxed their wives to eat something, while Kitty had to coax Kurt not to eat everything in the house. The men were trying hard not to show any sign of strong emotion, despite the women telling them that crying feels much better and that they shouldn't keep their emotions bottled up like that. This didn't last, however, because Rogue got very tired of the men's false sense of calm. She forcefully kicked Scott, who was by far the most stubborn about the women's suggestion, sending him into hysterics about his son and daughter. Upon seeing their leader fall, the rest soon gave in to tears, also admitting to their wives that they had been wrong.  
  
Soon everyone was gathered outside the doors of Cerebro. Everyone except Jean, who was inside helping Professor Xavier locate the missing children. The Professor soon said, "I've found Tom." It was easy for him to locate Tom, because he had done so before. Xavier was about to speak when he noticed something curious. He had lost the children. It was as if they had been extinguished like candles.  
  
"Professor?" Jean asked, starting to becoming slightly alarmed.  
  
"I've lost them to the same kind of mind block that Magneto's helmet contains," he answered grimly.  
  
Jean sat wide eyed in horror at this announcement.  
  
"What do we do now?" She whimpered in fear for the children.  
  
"We look the old fashioned way." he answered, going to prepare a search through the vast woodlands that were to the Institute's northwest.


	8. Into the Woods

Disclaimer: See Chapter 2  
  
Thanks to Dracula'sGurl, DemonRogue13, Tao Kitty, Tailfeather, and ldypebsaby for the reviews!  
  
Ch 8- Into the Woods  
  
The children had been tramping through the woods all night, and it didn't seem like they were going to stop anytime soon. They were all tired, annoyed, and going on no sleep, but they also wanted a head start on their parents. Little Rosie was having a hard time with this woodland trek. She was exhausted, thirsty, hungry, and missed her parents already. She didn't dare tell the older kids. If they knew she was here, they were sure to be furious at her.  
  
"Water." The parched redhead rasped to the trees. A swift flowing stream seemed to appear out of nowhere, and the five year old thankfully took a well deserved drink. The older children had also discovered the brook, and were bathing their aching feet upstream.  
  
"When are we gonna stop?" a very irritated Raina asked Drake, who was the unofficial leader of the group.  
  
Drake shrugged, and remained silent.  
  
"Why don't we stop here, where we know there's a clearing, and go on in about an hour." Kaye suggested.  
  
Everyone seemed to like the idea and were soon lying on the cool, soft grass. Kaye, being the only one who had brought a watch, set its small alarm, and lay down upon the grass. Rosie tried to sneak into the clearing quietly, in need of a nap, but was soon caught by Ron due to his acute hearing.  
  
"Rosie!" he hissed heatedly, not wanting to wake the others, "What are you doing here?!?"  
  
Rosie's head hung guiltily at the sound of Ron's angry voice.  
  
"I- um." The small girl replied, on the verge of tears. Triss was the only one awake to hear Ron reprimand Rosie, and came to the little one's rescue before Ron's temper got the best of him.  
  
"It's okay, Rosie," Triss whispered soothingly to her, finding her a space to lie down in the small clearing. Triss then turned on Ron.  
  
"You made her cry!" the blue mutant berated, tail swishing back and forth in frustration. "She's only five, Ron; you can't be that hard on her!"  
  
Triss and Ron went to lie down again, as far away from each other as possible. Ron was infuriated. How dare Triss tell him off like that, as if he knew nothing! As he fell asleep, Ron didn't notice that the food supplies he was supposed to be watching were dangerously close to the stream. Ron was too distracted by his anger to notice this serious mistake.  
  
Kaye's alarm beeped sharply, causing her to jolt awake. She was soon forcing everyone awake, telling them to get moving.  
  
"You don't have to yell, we're right here!" Joel snapped, already exasperated on finding his little sister along on this quest.  
  
Kaye's eyes flashed treacherously as she said in a dangerously calm voice, "The last guy who spoke to me like that went home a new soprano."  
  
Joel instantly backed off, intimidated greatly by the homicidal teen. Raina high fived Kaye and asked, "Okay, everything packed up?"  
  
Everyone nodded, until Ron said, "Wait, where's the food."  
  
"What?" asked Raina forcefully. Raina was almost as dangerous as Kaye, but in more of a psycho way than a murderous way.  
  
"It's not here," Ron gulped, hoping Kaye wasn't tempted to turn him into a soprano. The whole group went to examine the area where Ron last left the supply bags.  
  
"RON!" Raina hollered at her brother, "GET OVER HERE!" Ron whimpered, knowing how close he was to death. "LOOK!"  
  
Raina pointed to a single piece of bread sitting on the edge of the bank.  
  
"YOU LOST THE FOOD!?!" Drake snarled, his face reddening as Ron's face paled.  
  
"I guess we're going back home then," Kaye muttered, disappointed that the mission had failed.  
  
"We're NOT going home!" Drake challenged furiously.  
  
Kaye produced a switchblade out of her back pocket and growled, "You wanna run that by me again, brain dead?"  
  
It took the combined efforts of Triss and Raina to hold Drake back, while it took Ron, Will, Nate, and Tom to hold Kaye down, due to the switchblade.  
  
Once everyone had calmed down, the kids decided not to go back, but to keep going, despite Kaye's muttering that they were all idiots. They kept moving until nightfall, when they found a clearing slightly larger than the one before, and set up a real camp. Ron went out to hunt, hoping to redeem himself, and came back with a rabbit and a weasel.  
  
"You expect us to eat that? Raina questioned, looking at the weasel in disgust.  
  
"Do you have another suggestion?" Ron retorted.  
  
"No." she snapped in defeat, "But I'm not eating any of the weasel. If you want to, that's your mistake. But when weasels take over the Earth, I'm with the weasels, and I'm not going to cut you any slack."  
  
Ron scooted away from his slightly insane sister as did others sitting near her. After Kaye had skinned the two animals, she put them both on a stake over the fire to cook. Tom managed to scavenge some apples, though he had to force the tree to produce them. Everyone then ate their meager dinner, listening to Kaye's mumbling about being afraid of small children. Rosie, strangely, had taken to Kaye, and had eaten the meal in Kaye's lap. Shortly after eating, the children decided to go to bed. They were grouped two to a tent, Joel and Rosie in one, Triss and Nate in another, then Will and Ron, Drake and Tom, and lastly, Raina and Kaye.  
  
Nate was trying hard to go to sleep, which he needed badly. Earlier, it seemed that he had just drifted off to sleep, when Kaye was telling them to wake up and get moving. Once again, he had just fallen asleep, when Raina burst into the tent and yelped, "Something's wrong with Kaye!"  
  
At the sound of Raina's panicked tone, Triss and Nate rushed out of the tent to meet the others who had also been awakened by Raina or Kaye in some cases. The others were standing in the dark, with no light source except the moon, for somehow the fire had gone out. The twins accompanied Raina into the tent that she and Kaye shared. Kaye was in a terrible state. She was clutching the sides of her head, yelling and whimpering, as if she was in pain. Every moment or so, she would wave at the air, banishing an imaginary being. She didn't open her eyes much, but when she did, the three could see they looked slightly abnormal. Raina, Nate, and Triss stood there wondering what to do, when they noticed something curious about her teeth. They were quickly becoming larger; in fact they were growing at such an alarming rate that her braces snapped. Kaye spat a bracket out of her mouth, as she saw her fingernails thickening. Her yells had become lower and raspier now, so Triss and her two companions left briefly to fetch a first aid kit that Triss had brought along.  
  
"How is this going to help?" asked Raina, wondering how a first aid kit would help in a situation like this.  
  
"Well, I also brought a laptop," answered Triss. "It's got an encyclopedia. I was hoping to find a diagnosis on it."  
  
"You brought a laptop out here?" Nate asked his sister in surprise, "Those things cost a fortune, and you dragged it out here?  
  
"Well how else was I gonna entertain myself?" Triss asked impatiently.  
  
"This can't get any worse!" whimpered Nate, "Our food's gone, our fire's gone out, and now this!"  
  
The camp then heard an earsplitting roar that rumbled like thunder and sent birds fleeing from their nests. A sinister and shadowy figure emerged from the gloom around Kaye's tent. Though the fire was gone, the eerie moonlight showed the creature's lethal weaponry. Muscle and sinew stood out on this graceful, but powerful figure. As it walked, it revealed gargantuan claws that were as sharp as an assassin's dagger. There came forth a rumbling growl, after which pearly white fangs glittered in the fluorescent moonlight. To top it all off, the shadow stared with ghostlike yellow eyes.  
  
"It can't get any worse, huh?" Ron asked.  
  
"Obviously it can." Raina whispered, swallowing hard as the colossal panther which had been Kaye lunged toward her. 


	9. The Call of the Wild

Disclaimer: If I owned X-Men Evolution, it wouldn't be cancelled. It would go on forever!!!!!!!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! Ahem, if you want to run from me screaming, I understand.  
  
Ldypebsaby: Yeah, this really is the camping trip from hell. No it's not something she ate, but I wouldn't have eaten the weasel if I was her. As Raina said, weasels will take over the world someday, and I'm with Raina and the weasels.  
  
DemonRogue13: Thanks (sorry that was kinda short, but I can't really say much else.)  
  
Tao's Girl: Yeah, "Kaye" doesn't take kindly to weaklings. Though she's currently possessed by a more primitive spirit, "Kaye" still would get angry pretty quick in this situation.  
  
Tailfeather: A mutant gene kicking in is what's going on. And the reason why Kaye is attacking people is, as I said to Tao's Girl, she is currently possessed by the spirit of a wild animal. It's sorta like what happened to Beast, and no Kaye is not somehow related to Beast.  
  
Dracula'sgurl: Be free my ferrety idiots!! (Sorry to everyone else for that, it's an inside joke.)   
  
Ch 9- The Call of the Wild  
  
Raina didn't have time to run as Kaye leaped towards her. She was bracing herself; it seemed to take a life time for Kaye to just go ahead and hit her, tear her to pieces. Raina watched Kaye sail through the air, claws extended, and teeth bared. Then suddenly, a smaller outline hit Kaye like a freight train in midair. Everyone gaped openmouthed at Ron, who had succeeded in driving the black panther away from the others. Kaye was at least twice as big as the wolf and yet Ron still managed to hit her so hard that she lost her balance and fell to the ground. The huge cat licked her teeth and, tasting blood, went berserk. She had now picked a fight with the jet black wolf, and the others knew it. The two were circling each other, waiting for his or her opponent to spring.  
  
"Why is she doing this?" Raina questioned, wondering why Kaye was attacking her fellows with such ferocity.  
  
"She's not herself." Nate answered. "I mean, she's not exactly a friendly person, but she wouldn't really try to kill anyone!"  
  
"So what are we going to do?" whined Will, who was, like everyone else, scared to death of the dangerous animal.  
  
They were watching Ron try to restrain the panther, but he only succeeded in getting himself scratched, bitten, and bruised.  
  
"Trissy, what have you got in that first aid kit?" asked Nate, hoping to find a solution to their problem somewhere.  
  
Triss was typing furiously on her laptop and didn't answer.  
  
"Triss, what the heck are you doing?" Drake yelled.  
  
Triss didn't even look up from the computer screen to answer, "Looking up leopards."  
  
"Why leopards?" asked Tom franticly, "and why is Kaye climbing that tree instead of fighting with Ron?"  
  
"Because panthers are sort of the opposite of an albino leopard," Triss said, scrolling down franticly on the leopard section of the encyclopedia, "and, RON! GET AWAY FROM THE TREE!"  
  
Triss had spoken too late. Ron couldn't have known that a leopard's favorite hunting spot is from a tree. Kaye leaped from the spreading oak and landed on Ron with tremendous force, knocking him flat and giving him a nasty gash right below his throat. Ron was now at the big cat's mercy. The others stood, all thinking furiously, but not finding a solution to Ron's predicament. By now, Drake had started a powerful earthquake, but Kaye just hung on to Ron as the earth shook, gripping him with her claws and causing deep cuts near the base of the wolf's neck.  
  
"Stop! You're making it worse!" Raina screamed as tears sprang from her eyes in fear for her brother.  
  
"Somebody do something," Rosie sobbed, who was greatly shaken by this event.  
  
"Stop it!" Raina shrieked as a last resort. She then clutched her throat, thoroughly surprised by the rasping noise that she had produced. Kaye still had her claws sunk deeply into Ron, but looked up at Raina.  
  
"What did you do?" Joel asked wide eyed in confusion.  
  
"I don't know." She whimpered, even more puzzled than Joel. "I told her to stop it, that's all."  
  
"Do it again!" Nate yelled, his hopes raised ever so slightly.  
  
"Stop!" Raina shouted to Kaye, the same raspy hiss emitting from her throat.  
  
"Why should I?" answered a voice very unlike Kaye's.  
  
"Did you hear that?" Raina whispered in an awed voice at hearing an animal speak.  
  
"Yeah, it growled, so?" Drake snapped, slightly frustrated about not being in control anymore.  
  
"No she didn't growl, she talked!" Raina corrected.  
  
Just then, a realization dawned on Triss. "Raina," she spoke excitedly, "See if you can talk to Ron!"  
  
"Ok, I'll try." She answered hesitantly. "Ron! Ron, can you hear me.?" She asked.  
  
"Yeah, please help. It hurts." He whispered, mentioning Kaye's claws that were still buried in his flesh.  
  
"I did it!" she told Triss. "He answered too. He wants us to help him."  
  
"Of course he does, we could have told you that!" Will stated.  
  
Triss frowned at Will and said, "Raina, you are the only one who can get Kaye to calm down!"  
  
"And how am I supposed to do that?" she questioned frantically.  
  
"Raina, are you really that dense? You have a new mutant power. You can talk to animals!" Triss exclaimed, shaking from fear, excitement, and fatigue.  
  
Raina sat, wide eyed, as she tried to process the thought. She then started to speak to the furious panther. It was hard for her to find the right words.  
  
"How do you speak to a panther?" she asked herself.  
  
"Yer doin' it right now, stupid." came a growl a few yards away.  
  
"Um, could you please let go of my brother?" Raina inquired shakily, petrified of speaking with the wild animal.  
  
"What's in it fer' me?"she said in a low, scratchy voice.  
  
Raina immediately knew this wasn't Kaye. For the whole twenty four hours she had known Kaye, Raina had been best friends with her. Even though Kaye wasn't a social person, and had the maternal instinct of a rock, Kaye was pretty dignified and wouldn't sink as low as hurting an honest person.  
  
"What do you want?" Raina asked, puzzled as to what a panther would request.  
  
"I want him to die." She snarled, gesturing to Ron.  
  
"Why?" Raina questioned, realizing that the panther wasn't going to back down.  
  
"Because he picked a fight with me first." hissed the shadow.  
  
"Could you just let him go?" pleaded Raina.  
  
"Well, seein' as how you don't have anythin' I want, no." the malevolent creature laughed, digging her claws farther into Ron, causing him to yelp sharply. Raina stood horrified at the cat's lust for blood.  
  
"Triss, this isn't working," Raina moaned, tears rolling down her cheeks after seeing her brother be mauled like that.  
  
"I didn't think so," Triss whispered, trying hard not to look at the battered and bleeding Ron.  
  
Nate was rummaging through the first aid kit, trying to find something to help. He brought out a small oxygen tank and said, "Triss, you didn't bring a first aid kit, you brought half the infirmary!"  
  
"You dropped this," Will remarked, holding an empty injection.  
  
"Will, you're a genius!" Triss gasped as she gave him a hug.  
  
"I am?" he said in disbelief, blushing as he was unused to attention from females, apart from his mother.  
  
Triss didn't answer, because she was reading the back of a small bottle of liquid labeled Ketamine.(1) She then filled the injection to a certain extent, as she had watched Kitty do many times.  
  
"What are you doing?" Nate asked, wondering what his twin could be up to.  
  
"I'm going to put her to sleep." Triss answered, nodding toward Kaye, but turning her head quickly as Kaye gave Ron a vicious slash across the muzzle.  
  
"Raina, can you distract Kaye?" Triss asked urgently.  
  
"I think so," she replied.  
  
"Good," Triss added finally, before disappearing into the woods not five yards from the panther and her victim.  
  
"Hey, ugly!" Raina snarled at Kaye taking a braver approach than last time.  
  
Kaye roared in anger at the insult and turned her attention to Raina.  
  
"Do you know how dangerous that was?" she spat, baring her endless rows of teeth.  
  
"You let him go now you bloodthirsty wretch!" Raina retorted, throwing a small stone and hitting Kaye on the ear.  
  
"You've got courage. I'll remember that as I kill you." The animal smiled widely, looking even more ferocious as she grinned.  
  
"Quit smiling, pansy, and fight!" she bellowed, trying to seem more confident than she felt.  
  
"I'll only fight you once he's gone." The cat warned, lowering a claw against Ron's unprotected throat.  
  
"Over my dead body!" Raina replied maliciously.  
  
"That can be arranged." Kaye answered in a sinisterly silky tone.  
  
Just as Raina thought the cat might actually fight her, or finally kill Ron, she saw the black leopard wheel around sharply and swipe at something. Triss managed to scamper up a nearby pine, but not before Kaye had left four claw slashes on her tail right to the bone. Kaye started to ascend up the pine to Triss, who was trying to find a way out of the tree without getting killed. Kaye was getting dangerously close to Triss when she slipped, sliding down the bark and leaving the tree scratched badly. She started to make her way back up the tree, but slowed and fell again. The panther then decided to circle the tall, skinny tree, but her eyelids began to droop, and her movements became slower and more sluggish than before. Kaye finally crumpled into a heap at the base of the pine tree, the hypodermic still hanging from her skin.  
  
1) Ketamine is an animal tranquilizer that pretty much knocks you out flat in about two minutes. It can be used on humans though. 


	10. Betrayal

Disclaimer: How many times do I have to tell you, lawyer people? I don't own anything!!!  
  
Tao's Girl: Thanks! You're in this one! Enjoy! PS: Luv da' kitty, Stroke da' kitty, Be da' kitty! (sorry, inside joke)  
  
ldyepebsaby: Lots of thanks to you, my faithful reviewer!! Peace Out (  
  
DemonRogue13: Thank you, also a faithful reviewer.  
  
psyco88: Thanks, I'm glad you like the characters. It's also nice to have a new reviewer.  
  
Dracula'sgurl: Hope you like this chapter, e-mail me or whatever and tell me what you think!  
  
Ch 10- Betrayal  
  
Two teen age girls perched in a tree, watching the sleepy and slightly battle scarred camp below. One, a blonde haired, blue eyed seventeen year old named Hannah Maximoff put binoculars to her eyes to get a closer look. The other, Kathleen Tolensky was dozing slightly. Hannah biffed the ebony haired, green eyed fifteen year old with a rolled up magazine and whispered, "Look, the cat's waking up."  
  
The cousins had been watching the whole panther episode last night, and had kept a mental note to report it. The two were being as quiet as possible, as they were not to far away from the little camp. They were out of earshot of most, making an exception for Ron and Kaye. Kathleen blinked sleepily as Kaye stirred. The panther stood unsteadily and then, realizing she wasn't exactly in human form, started to panic. Hannah and Kathleen watched as Raina comforted the animal and slowly explained to her how to get back to a human form again. Kaye finally figured out how to switch forms and was standing shakily with her back against a tree. Hannah put the binoculars back on her eyes and spoke, "Kathleen you have to see her eyes. They're all different."  
  
Kathleen took the binoculars from the slightly ditzy Hannah and looked at Kaye's dark eyes that were now flecked with gold. Suddenly, the binoculars were snatched from Kathleen by an unknown source in the upper branches.  
  
"Not nearly as weird as mine, mates." A younger voice answered somewhat proudly.  
  
Both sighed in annoyance and groaned, "Tao."(1)  
  
A brown haired fourteen year old dropped nimbly from a higher branch. Tao Allerdyce was a blunt, opinionated girl whose eyes were very interesting. They were red, blue, and a little orange with other flame shades mixed in, but the most curious thing was she had no pupils.  
  
"So, why haven't their parents come to the rescue?" Tao asked for about the third time in her Australian accent.  
  
Kathleen rolled her eyes and said through gritted teeth, "Because we're about half a mile from the cave right?"  
  
Tao nodded  
  
"And headquarters has my grandfather's mind block thing around it for a three mile radius, meaning baldy can't find us." Kathleen explained.  
  
"Oh yeah." Tao grinned sheepishly.  
  
"So, why do you have to grace us with your lovely presence for the next week anyway?" Hannah muttered sarcastically.  
  
"Well, ya see, when I showed up with me second cousin John's powers, my parents thought it'd be good for me to come visit 'im. But all he's done so far is try to send me on beer runs, forgetting that I'm not twenty one yet, and can't buy beer, or vodka, or wine." Tao growled, listing all the drinks John and all the other men had been requesting.  
  
"When you live with 'em twenty-four-seven, you sorta get used to it." Kathleen spoke in a bored, monotone voice.  
  
Tao muttered something about lousy drunks, and conjured up a fire bobcat from a lighter, and was making it jump from branch to branch. Bobcats were Tao's favorite animal, and she loved nothing more than to make a fire bobcat and watch it walk, jump, play, and do other things she commanded it to.  
  
"So what else can you do with fire?" Kathleen asked, who was a bit nicer than Hannah, but not by much.  
  
"Watch this." Tao said, heartened that someone actually was interested in any talents she had. She took the lighter and put it lit into her mouth. She left the flame in her mouth for about a minute, and then spit it like a dragon.  
  
"Not one burn, either." She stated, sticking out her unscathed tongue.  
  
Hannah and Kathleen tried not to look amazed at this, until Hannah heard a message on a walkie talkie she held. She listened for a moment and said, "Pack up girls, my Dad says we're due back to headquarters."  
  
Drake was furious. Everyone was fawning over Kaye because she had just hunted down an enormous stag. Though he would never admit it, Drake was an attention hog and always had been.  
  
"Don't see what's such a big deal, anyway." Drake growled as Kaye sat the deer by the fire, releasing its antlers from her powerful jaws.  
  
Drake suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes not five yards away from his tent, which he was seated by. He frowned as Nate exclaimed, "How did you catch that thing?"  
  
"Well, the condition its throat is in should tell you." A now human Kaye said, gesturing to the stag's mangled neck.  
  
Drake heard the same noise again, and went to check it out, angered by the fact that no one noticed him walking off. He disappeared into the thick foliage where the sound was coming from. He got to a place where the bushes were thick with briars and sharp twigs and he saw a middle aged man looking through a gap in the leaves, and fiddling with a deck of cards. His countenance was slightly worried, but he looked up when Drake entered the area. Remy LeBeau shook his head in slight bewilderment at Drake, but put the thought aside and said, "Ton pere would like a word with you."  
  
Drake looked farther into the space, surprised to find his father sitting expectantly on a large rock.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Drake asked rudely. Even though the two were a team, they had a surprising disrespect for each other.  
  
"I've come to ask you a favor." Lance retorted with the same insolence his son had used.  
  
"What do you want?" Drake asked suspiciously. His father threw him a map, showing Drake where his boss's new headquarters was.  
  
"I need you to lure the others to this location." He said, pointing to a circled place on the small map.  
  
"So, where are we now?" Drake asked.  
  
"Here." Lance answered, putting a box around the spot with a pen.  
  
"Before I do this, what's in it for me?" Drake inquired discourteously.  
  
"I'm paying you to do this, Drake." Lance snarled. "So keep a civil tongue in your head."  
  
"Paying me? How much?" he asked his father greedily.  
  
"How much do you want?" Drake's father asked, hoping his son wouldn't ask for too much, but knowing he most likely would.  
  
"How much do you have?"  
  
Lance growled at this comment. "How's fifty?" He sighed.  
  
Drake thought for a moment, and then shook his head.  
  
"Seventy five?"  
  
"No."  
  
Lance realized that Drake was trying to figure out how far he could go with out his father denying his request.  
  
"Don't tell me you want one hundred." Lance groaned.  
  
Drake grinned in a cocky manner, telling his father that, yes, he wanted one hundred dollars. Lance cursed under his breath before pulling out two fifties and handing them to his son.  
  
"Don't you have a hundred instead of two fifties?" Drake smirked.  
  
"Don't push it, buddy. I could just not pay you and make you do this with the threat of taking away television privileges." Lance hissed victoriously.  
  
"I could just leave you to do this yourself, knowing that those three brats wouldn't trust you if their lives depended on it." Drake retorted, jabbing a thumb at Triss, Nate, and Kaye. Lance let Drake go, knowing he needed him to do his new boss's bidding.  
  
"What are you staring at, swamp rat?" he asked Remy, who was still staring at something through the bushes.  
  
"Remy thinks he knows one of the children, mon ami." The Cajun replied, speaking in third person as he always did.  
  
"Whatever." Lance muttered.  
  
"Remy thinks it is chere's adopted daughter, but Remy has only seen the back of her head so far." He spoke to himself.  
  
"Who?" Lance asked in confusion.  
  
"Rogue's adopted daughter." Remy explained.  
  
"Oh, you mean Kaye? Probably is." Lance shrugged. Remy looked even more concerned at this and kept watching her.  
  
"So, how do you know Kaye?" Lance asked curiously.  
  
"Remy was almost engaged to Rogue once." Remy spoke sadly. "Remy thinks he made her more unhappy being in a relationship than not, he thinks it reminded her that she could never be close to anyone. Remy was sort of a father to Kaye before he and Rogue went separate ways. But she doesn't remember Remy, I'm sure. He left when she was young."  
  
"How old was she when you left?" Lance inquired, trying not to sound interested in the subject.  
  
"Well, Remy started dating Rogue when Kaye was a newborn, and left when she was four. It was not Remy's decision for him to leave, it was Rogue's." He added, seeing the look on Lance's face, "Sorry, Remy hopes he does not depress you."  
  
"Why would I be depressed?" Lance asked a little more forcefully than he meant to.  
  
"Remy knows your relationship with Drake's mother." Remy said, trying to sound casual.  
  
"Worry about your own love life, Cajun." Lance snapped, as this was a touchy subject for him.  
  
But the Cajun was not listening; his attention was on Kaye, who had finally turned her face towards him. He sat realizing that if Drake lured the children to this cave, Kaye would be along with them. Lance also realized this and knew that Remy might be tempted to squeal to the X-Men. Though Lance had thought correctly, he had thought too late. He and Remy, thankfully, had walked from the cave, so Remy would also be walking to go find the X-Men. He tried to run after the Cajun, but Gambit had once been a thief, and knew exactly how to blend in with his surroundings and cause Lance to lose track of him. Lance knew he needed to report this to his boss, Pietro, as quickly as possible.  
  
When Drake appeared back in the camp, everyone else had tried to figure out how to cook the stag, but had only had a bloody mess on their hands. The deer was even more bloody and mangled than before, and it was starting to make the others queasy.  
  
"Stupid kids," Drake muttered as Kaye tried to size up the situation.  
  
Rosie had started to whine out of hunger and was saying, "Eeeew, we can't eat that!"  
  
Triss was in hysterics at seeing the dead deer and squeaked, "It's Bambi! I can't believe you, Kaye, you killed Bambi!"  
  
"Oh, get a grip Triss." Kaye snapped.  
  
Rosie ran over to the deer Triss had christened "Bambi", kicked its antler and pouted, "Cook, you stupid deer!"  
  
Suddenly, as if by magic, the edible part of the stag was on a stick over the rekindled fire, and the rest had been discarded in a pile at the edge of the clearing.  
  
"What did she do?" Kaye asked Joel in utter shock at this happening.  
  
"I don't know!" he answered as the rest of the group looked to him for an answer.  
  
Everyone looked flabbergasted except Rosie, who wondered why everyone was staring at her. The others decided not to confuse the little redhead by asking questions, and watched the remainder of "Bambi" cook slowly. It was then when Drake decided to persuade the others to come to the cave where he was told to bring them.  
  
"Guys?" he asked, bringing their attention to him. "After this is cooked and we eat, I think we should get going."  
  
"Why?" Tom asked, "We have a perfectly good campsite right here."  
  
"Because it says on this map-" Drake was cut off by Kaye.  
  
"You mean you have a map?" she asked, her piercing gold flecked eyes narrowing.  
  
"Yeah." He said, not knowing what was wrong.  
  
"You had it the whole time?" she asked.  
  
Drake was forced to answer yes.  
  
"THE ONLY REASON I FOLLOWED YOU MORONS WAS BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW THE WAY BACK!!!" Kaye shrieked.  
  
"Um, Kaye, everyone can hear you." Triss commented, forgetting that they were in the woods.  
  
"TRISS, THE ONLY THING AROUND HERE IS WOODS!!!! SQUIRRELS, BIRDS, CUTE LITTLE BUNNIES!!!!"  
  
"Kaye, breathe." Raina said to her friend. Raina finally got Kaye to settle down as Drake explained the rest of the plan, mildly surprised by Kaye's outburst.  
  
"There's a cave nearby and I thought it would be better shelter than tents." He finished, hoping Kaye approved of this.  
  
"Sounds good to me," Will answered promptly.  
  
"Sure." Nate answered as everyone else gave their opinion, which proved to accept this offer.  
  
"Good." Drake answered, looking at the deer which was at least half cooked by now, "We'll go after, um, lunch?"  
  
The slightly more energetic kids had now set off, after packing everything including a good supply of deer meat. Drake was relieved that no one had objected to his plan and were now well on their way to the cave. He was just hoping he could loose the others in the cave without them noticing. But when he and the others got to the damp and narrow cave, his fears were forgotten. The cave was dark enough that he could slip away at the last moment.  
  
"Are you sure we should go in there?" Ron asked.  
  
"Why not?" Drake inquired, hoping Ron would think himself a chicken and go in. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Ron didn't answer and, blushing, stepped into the shadowy, dank cave. The others followed immediately. Everyone walked down the narrow tunnel, complaining of having no light source. No one could see except Kaye, who was now a panther so she could see. Sooner or later, the group started to get uneasy, but said nothing in fear of being declared a coward.  
  
After tromping down the narrow space for quite some time, with no light, Raina said, "This is stupid, there's no way we can stay here. We can't start a fire, it's too wet, and we don't have a flashlight. Let's turn back Drake."  
  
But Drake didn't answer.  
  
"Drake?" asked Triss, wondering where he was.  
  
"Just like Gollum." Kaye growled who had turned back to a human just to comment on this before turning back into a panther, for she couldn't see.  
  
Suddenly a white smoke appeared from the cracks in the walls.  
  
"What is that?" Rosie asked, a bit suspicious of the whole happening.  
  
The unfortunate bunch figured out that this was knockout gas as Rosie collapsed in front of them. The others didn't have time to run in horror as each, one by one, fell unconscious to the damp, hard ground.  
  
(1): Pronounced TAY-oh 


	11. Riddles in the Dark

DemonRogue13: Thanks.  
  
Karakin: Glad you like it. There will be some Romy, though the whole story isn't around it.  
  
ldypebsaby: Thanks. Yeah, Drake needs to be slapped right now, I realize this.  
  
paprika90: Yeah I updated, I'll try to update sooner on chapter 12.  
  
Tao's Girl: Thanks for reviewing. I will keep checking on your fic.  
  
Dracula'sgurl: Soon enough for you, my ferrety friend?  
  
Chapter 11- Riddles in the Dark  
  
Kaye awoke in utter darkness, her head pounding. She thought for a moment she was back in her house, in Mississippi, until she felt the clammy, hard floor underneath her. Kaye tried to lift her head, only to find a weight sitting on top of it. She sat wondering what it was; when she tried to yawn, something stopped her jaws from moving more than an inch or two. Kaye opened her eyes wider to find she was looking through strong metal mesh. The girl decided to stand up to get a better sense of where she was when she found that her hands and feet were actually paws. That was when the panther called Kaye realized that she was being harnessed by a huge metal muzzle. The cat tried to walk forward when she was jerked back by something, which turned out to be a thick chain attaching the muzzle to the wall.  
  
"I wonder who could have done this," Kaye thought, marveling over how the muzzle seemed to fit her perfectly, though it was uncomfortable. She sat, thinking about how she could get out of these restraints. She soon found the answer.  
  
"I'll just turn myself into a human and voila!" She thought as she switched bodies. But her head did not slip out of the muzzle as she expected -- her head was stuck in her human form too. In fact the metal around her neck was choking her now, so Kaye had no choice but to turn back into her mutant form. She sat for a moment before looking around the small, narrow cell. Her eyes had quickly become accustomed to the darkness by now, revealing all her teammates chained to the wall as well, with manacles on each arm, flanked by a heavy chain. They were restrained along the wall, starting with Tom, then Ron, Raina, Nate, Triss, Will, Joel, Rosie, and then ending with Kaye, who was trapped in a corner. The colossal cat looked to her left to find Rosie shivering in her sleep.  
  
"Oh no." Kaye thought, seeing Rosie next to her. Kaye had never liked children, their crying, screaming, and whining, their sticky hands. Small children were annoying to Kaye, and she was constantly afraid she was accidentally going to hurt them somehow. Kaye watched Rosie shiver in the cold, her arms held unnaturally high above her. The black leopard moved over as far as her chains would allow, gently put a paw around the little girl and pulled Rosie next to her. Kaye sat down as the small five year old put her head on the panther's chest, right next to her heart. Rosie's shivering abated as Kaye thought, "She's not that bad, for a little nuisance."  
  
Hannah walked away from the cell door to tell her father that the panther could not get out of her muzzle, just as he had hoped. She came into a large room, to find all the adults conversing over how they had finally put the X-Men in their place. Also, they were discussing how their own children would win in fights against their old rivals' kids.  
  
"So?" A blonde haired blue eyed woman asked Hannah.  
  
"The panther is successfully restrained." She sighed as she rolled her eyes. The woman was Alexa Maximoff, Pietro's wife, and Hannah's mother. The unusual thing was Alexa and Hannah both had no mutant gene, which was very surprising for Hannah, though not so much for Alexa.  
  
"Yeah! We finally got those goodie goodies." Todd exclaimed, punching the air.  
  
"I-told-you-we-would." Pietro said in his usual speedy dialect.  
  
"So, who did we get?" asked the slow witted Blob.  
  
"We-got-Rogue's-adopted-kid," Pietro spoke, starting to list the children he had captured. "We-got-Kitty-and-Kurt's-twins."  
  
Pietro was cut off as Toad stated his approval because of his long rivalry with Nightcrawler.  
  
"Rahne-and-Roberto's-two-Bobby-and-Jubilee's-one-and-best-of-all-we-got-the- Summers-kids."  
  
Everyone cheered here, for there wasn't one of the adults who didn't hate Scott Summers. The children, though, were very bored, and were looking for any form of entertainment. Kathleen was levitating a metal ball using her powers she had inherited from her grandfather, Magneto, who had finally died not too long ago. Tao was playing with yet another fire bobcat, even petting its fiery head. Hannah was flirting with Drake, who was definitely enjoying the attention. Kathleen watched in disgust as she asked her mother Wanda, "Mom, can I sign on Uncle Pietro's computer?"  
  
She had forgotten, however that Pietro was in the room, "No, you can't." he replied to his niece. As soon as he left the room, Wanda answered, "Yes, go." Kathleen ran off to her uncle's room, to get on his private computer, that wasn't at all related to his work. Tao had gotten tired of playing with the bobcat, and was now heading off to the cell to find someone to talk to. She looked through the few bars on the door, to find the only one awake apart from Kaye, was Joel.  
  
"Hey, could you please tell me why we're here?" He asked politely to the stranger.  
  
"Sure, mate." She answered sadly, realizing that he wouldn't like her answer. "What I've heard, is this guy Pietro is trying to continue his old dad's work."  
  
"On what?" Joel inquired hoarsely.  
  
"You sure you want to hear this?" Tao asked grimly.  
  
"Yes." He answered surely.  
  
"Work on mutant experimentation." She spoke miserably.  
  
Joel's eyes grew wide in horror. He sat for a moment before saying, "Is there any way you can get us out of here?"  
  
"Fraid not, mate. Who knows where speedy keeps the key to this door and your chains? Even if I knew where it was, I'd never get away with stealing it. I'm sorry, really." She whimpered in fear for everyone who was locked in this cruel place. Tao couldn't bear to watch Joel's desperate face anymore, and left the cell door.  
  
Joel sat waiting for everyone else to wake up. Kaye couldn't talk, only responding with mews, growls, and purrs. Soon, Rosie awoke slowly to find her arms chained to the walls. The little girl didn't take kindly to this and immediately spoke, "Let go of me."  
  
Rosie's chains disappeared like smoke, and she leaped up to run out the door, despite her brother's attempts to get Rosie to help the others. The red head was out the door before Joel could warn her about the danger she was in. Rosie's brother sat miserably, worried for his little sister. Kaye couldn't say anything to comfort him, unless Raina was awake. The next to awaken was Nate, who jumped upon awakening, making his chains rattle.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Joel, wondering why Nate had jumped like that.  
  
"We were just in that cave two minutes ago." He answered as if this was obvious.  
  
"Nate, it's been at least three hours since that happened." Joel explained to his confused friend. Nate shook his head in bewilderment and asked, "Kaye, do you still have that watch?"  
  
Kaye turned to her human form just long enough to toss Joel the watch, before going back to her panther form, due to the choking metal.  
  
"Watch this." Nate said after Joel threw him the small silver watch. Joel sat for at least two minutes before Nate said anything.  
  
"Did something happen?" Nate asked.  
  
"No," replied Joel, who was very confused.  
  
Nate thought for a moment before saying, "Reach your hand over here as far as you can."  
  
Joel obeyed and Nate wrapped the tip of his tail around Joel's index finger.  
  
"Now watch the clock face carefully." Nate commanded. Nate concentrated on the clock for a moment, before Joel noticed the minute hand skip three minutes.  
  
"Woah." Joel exclaimed in surprise at what Nate had done, while Kaye sat looking clueless.  
  
"That's why I've been so tired lately. Every time I fall asleep, I accidentally speed up time. Sorry I can't show you too, Kaye, but I could barely reach Joel. I guess I have to be touching someone for them to come through time with me" Nate explained.  
  
Raina stirred at the sound of Nate's talking, and moaned holding her head. She opened one eye, saw Nate, and asked, "Where are we?"  
  
"No idea." Nate responded looking around the small cell himself. Raina looked down the row of children, and noticed Rosie was gone.  
  
"Where's your sister?" she inquired to Joel.  
  
"She just ran off." He answered worriedly. "You know what she did to that deer? Well, she just made her chains disappear, and the door opened and she ran off."  
  
"So why's the door closed now?" Raina asked.  
  
"It shut behind her." Joel whispered through an immense headache, as everyone else had too, due to the knockout gas.  
  
Most woke up soon after this, except for Ron, but Raina said he once slept through the smoke detector and she wasn't surprised he was asleep now. The subject had moved to code names, as the children had found out their parents had had code names with the X-Men.  
  
"What about Kaye?" Triss asked.  
  
"Well something to do with black or dark colors." answered Tom.  
  
"Midnight? I dunno." Raina suggested.  
  
"No, that's bad luck." Will stated. "Cause I had a pure black kitten once and her name was Midnight. She got run over by a bulldozer near a construction site."  
  
"Well, I heard my mom's name was Shadowcat, but you probably want something original." Triss commented.  
  
"I've got it!" Nate exclaimed, "Nightmare!"  
  
Kaye purred an approval.  
  
"How 'bout me?" Ron asked, just waking up.  
  
"Fluffy." Raina teased.  
  
"Werewolf?" Joel asked.  
  
"Yeah!" Ron accepted.  
  
"Tom's going to be hard." Triss commented.  
  
"I know." Tom replied. "I've thought about codenames before, and never came up with anything."  
  
Kaye growled something to Raina, who laughed for a full minute before gasping, "E.T."  
  
A roar of laughter followed Kaye's comment. Even Tom was in hysterics at this.  
  
"I think you will forever be E.T" Nate laughed.  
  
Everyone nodded in agreement and moved on, still laughing every now and then.  
  
"How 'bout Will?" Triss asked.  
  
"Snowflake." Nate snickered.  
  
"Glacier?" Tom guessed.  
  
"No, Iceberg. It sounds more powerful than Glacier, you know, cause of the whole Titanic thing." Ron commented.  
  
"I think you're crazy." Triss said at Ron's strange remark.  
  
"Wait, he's got a point." Will stated.  
  
Triss rolled her eyes as Joel winced over something.  
  
"What's wrong?" Will asked.  
  
"Nothing, it's just, my left eye is hurting a little." Joel answered.  
  
"No wonder, it's gone all silvery." Triss said, looking at Joel.  
  
"What do you think did that?" Tom asked, looking at the eye.  
  
"Maybe you fell on it in that cave?" Nate suggested.  
  
"I have no idea." Joel sighed over his aching eye.  
  
Kaye hissed something and Raina interpreted it.  
  
"She says she's mad at Drake for getting us in this mess in the first place." Raina finished.  
  
"I don't blame her," Joel spoke quietly, "No offense, Triss, Nate, but I think he's a traitor."  
  
"I know," Triss whispered. "But I still worry about him sometimes."  
  
"At this point, Trissy, I don't know why you still care about him." Raina said.  
  
Nate studied the ceiling while Triss replied, "We don't know where he is at this point, but Drake is the outcast of both teams. It's always hard to tell which side he's on, though at this point I'd say his dad's. I'm hoping he isn't permanently on this side though. Every thing he does, I'm guessing, is bribed or blackmailed. "  
  
"You have a lot of patience, Triss." Tom remarked. "At this point I'm afraid I wouldn't care much anymore."  
  
Suddenly, Kaye's hearing caught something from outside the cell. Raina asked her what was wrong before speaking fearfully, "She says she hears someone. They've come to get one of us."  
  
Voices were heard outside the door, after which two men came in.  
  
"Which one?" Todd Tolensky asked.  
  
Pyro showed Toad a file and Todd nodded.  
  
The one called Toad produced a key out of his pocket and walked to Triss, unlocking the first manacle from her arm. A volley of protests was heard from around the cell as Triss struggled against her assailants. Toad unlocked another manacle as Triss sent a powerful kick right into his unprotected stomach. He growled and allowed Pyro to stand her up roughly by the arm. Triss bit John sharply with her sharp teeth, sending him into fits of rage. Others around her fought to get at the attackers, and Kaye was trying to break through her chain. The panther had her back paws against the wall and was pushing against the chain with all her might. Kaye's restraints groaned as the two dragged Triss, who wasscratching, kicking , biting, and putting up a good fight against two anger driven men. Joel looked at Kaye, who was still fighting against the muzzle and chain, when suddenly his one eye throbbed with a most unusual pain. A panther appeared in Joel's place for just a moment, but long enough for Joel's chains to break clean off the wall. The second panther fell hard on the stone floor, and Joel suddenly was himself again. He stood up and ran toward the door hoping to catch up with Triss and the enemy, but failed, and watched the heavy metal door slam against its frame and lock. Joel watched helplessly as his friend was wrestled up the hall way, around a corner, and out of sight. 


	12. Come out, come out, wherever you are

bobtheheadlesschicken: Glad you can keep up with the characters, my evil reviewer known as bobtheheadlesschicken!

lypebsaby: You'll find out about Triss in this chapter. As for Joel, you'll have to figure that out later.

Tao's Girl: Yo punk drummer! Hope you like this chapter, and thanks for always reviewing.

paprika90: I'm glad you liked the chapter, hope you like this one too!

DemonRogue13: Thanks for the compliments and always reviewing.

Rhapsodyblue15: Yay! A new reviewer, glad you like the story.

Dracula'sgurl: I'm sorry it took me so long, my ferrety friend!

To everybody: Sorry it took me so long to update, but this was a longer chapter and my schedule was packed these last few weeks. I'll try to update quicker this time, but it's not guaranteed.

Chapter 12-Come you, come out wherever you are.

Looking the old fashioned way was not working well for the worried parents of the Institute. They had driven about thee hour into the woods, after which they decided to go on foot. The whole mansion had emptied to look for the missing children. All the adults had split up in small groups, but were still within ear shot of one another. However no one was making much progress.

"Do you really think you should be out here Kätzchen?" Kurt asked his wife worriedly.

"I'm fine Kurt," Kitty answered stubbornly, after which she stumbled on something.

"Watch it, half pint!" Logan said, remarking on her slight blunder.

"Like you were gonna convince her to stay home anyway," Rogue commented in her usual southern accent. "Just let it go Kurt."

"Look at this!" Kitty exclaimed, ignoring the others. She had pointed down at some massive paw prints, which were obviously the source of her loss of footing. Wolverine glanced down at them as he smelled the air lightly. He frowned slightly before bellowing, "Rahne, c'mere!"

The wolf trotted over from a patch of ivy she had been inspecting.

"Does this smell familiar to you?" Logan asked, nodding at the prints. Wolfsbane examined them, and surprisingly turned to sniff Rogue's black boots. Everyone looked at Rahne with a puzzled expression as she turned back into her human form and replied, "Smells familiar. Rogue, are you wearing anything that might belong to Kaye?"

"Yeah, I stole these boots from her not too long ago. She never found out I took 'em." Rogue laughed.

"Well, these paw prints smell exactly like her." Rahne continued.

"How?" Rogue asked, looking around at everyone who had slowly come back from where they had been searching.

Rahne shrugged in disbelief as Jean asked, "Should we follow them, Professor?"

Xavier sat for a moment, thinking. Suddenly a voice was heard out of no where. "Gambit 'tinks that would be a good idea."

The large group spun around to see Remy strolling through the trees towards them. Rogue immediately ran up and gave him a fiery kiss, though it had to be quick due to her powers. Remy was a bit taken aback by this, and responded by saying, "Remy is glad to see you too."

The others stood, mouths agape at their teammate's actions, and were brought out of their trance when Rogue snapped. "What are you starin' at?"

Most turned their heads quickly, slightly embarrassed at being caught staring, a few still looked on in disbelief, while Jubilee gave Rogue a high five.

"You know somethin', Cajun," Rogue added, noticing a certain look on his face, "so spill."

"Um, Remy knows were de children are," he explained. Gambit was suddenly bombarded with questions,

"Where are they?"

"Can you take us there?"

"Are they ok?"

Beast had to speak up for everyone to calm down, "Ok every one, we're all worried, but we won't get anywhere if you don't let the man speak."

"Thank you, Hank." Xavier said before Remy continued speaking.

"Dey are being held in a, well, about two miles away." He stated uncertainly. "We could get dere in about _vingt_ minutes by car," the Cajun finished.

"What minutes?" Bobby asked.

"Twenty." Rogue translated.

"It took a little longer for Remy, 'cause he was walking." Gambit explained.

"So you know exactly where they are?" Rahne asked.

"Gambit knows the general direction, _louve_.(1)" He answered. "We may do a bit of searching before we find something."

"Let's go then!" Jubilee cried eagerly.

Everyone else seemed to share this enthusiasm and quickly piled into the many vehicles that were parked not too far away. The van Gambit was in was driven by Jamie, whom he was giving directions to.

"So you have a five year old out there?" Jamie asked Jean and Scott sympathetically.

"Yeah." Jean answered in worry.

"Yikes." He stated, keeping an eye on the other vans, jeeps, and other forms of transportation that were following him.

"So, when do we get out and start looking?" Sam asked curiously.

"In a moment." He replied, looking for landmarks.

"_Ici_!(2)" Remy stated, spotting one of the many landmarks. Jamie stopped the van, to see that the Cajun was lightly pleased that someone actually understood what he said. The others followed in suit.

"So, what now?" Amara asked impatiently.

"We just look, I guess." Roberto answered.

The large congregation split up once again, hoping to find anything unusual. They searched for a good fifteen minutes before Jean thought she saw something move in the distance. She ignored it until it happened again.

"Rahne?" she asked, after seeing what she thought might have been someone's red hair. No one answered and Jean started to get suspicious. She remained quiet for a moment, until she heard a small voice ask, "Mommy?"

The culprit peeked out of the bush, to be quickly scooped up by her mother. Jean sobbed tears of joy and relief to have Rosie back in her arms. Scott rushed over to his daughter as soon as he saw her.

"Rose April Summers, don't ever scare Mommy and Daddy like that again!" Jean reprimanded in a tearful mixture of anger and happiness.

"Daddy!" the redhead squealed in glee at seeing her father. Scott held his little girl so tightly that some were afraid he might crush her. The others had gathered around them when they saw little Rosie was back.

"Mommy! I know where Joel is!" Rosie told her mother proudly, realizing her parents would want to know where her big brother was.

"Show Daddy where, Rosie," instructed Scott.

Rosie pointed to a slight gap in the trees and replied, "There."

The others decided it was worth a shot, and continued in the direction Rosie had indicated. A small narrow cave appeared from the trees, and Rosie said, "In there."

The adults started to walk in the cave, when Gambit said, "Not through there, this way."

Remy led them around the back of the cave, to a thickly wooded area, where the top branches of two trees intertwined to form a doorway. Remy pulled out his infamous deck of cards, and selected one. He charged the card and placed it in a hairline crack in the stone. The Queen of Hearts erupted, causing the stone door to swing inwards on squeaky metal hinges. They all filed in the dark, dank place to find an elevator in front of them.

"Dere are _trois_(3) floors." Remy explained. "We need to split up, preferably in groups of _deux_(4). We each go down one of de many hallways."

The rest agreed, and crammed them selves into the elevator. A good many were afraid the elevator wouldn't move, or it would drop, or some other malfunction would occur. Jubilee was especially uncomfortable, and Bobby didn't help, for he kept making comments referring The Tower of Terror, and singing the Twilight Zone song. They reached the third floor, and Jubilee left her husband in the elevator, and teamed up with Jamie to make him jealous. The remaining pairs listened to Bobby's muttering as the elevator traveled slowly down to level two. Most of the others disbanded after exiting the elevator, leaving only Rogue, Kurt, Kitty, and Remy in the elevator.

"Ok, so maybe we didn't divide the teams evenly, huh?" Kitty remarked.

"Dat, _ma copine_(6), is because we need to be extra quiet on this next level." Remy explained.

The others looked at Remy nervously and were quiet on the rest of their short ride down the elevator. The doors opened slowly and the four filed out into the poorly lit and narrow hallway.

"Ok, why don't you and Kurt split up and go with one of us, Kitty," Rogue commented, "cause if Remy or I get stuck somewhere, you can get us out."

Kurt nodded and gestured to Rogue and Remy before saying, "And you can come save the day if we're suddenly defenseless."

"Exactly," Rogue agreed.

Kitty automatically stepped toward Rogue as Kurt shrugged and started down the hallway to the left along with Remy.

"So now what?" Kitty asked once she and Rogue had started walking down the right hallway.

"It's not rocket science, Kitty dearest." She answered sarcastically. "We just look for anything unusual."

Kitty rolled her eyes as they tried to walk quietly down the pathway, which was hard for Kitty due to her talkative nature.

"Do you hear something?" Kitty asked, frowning a bit.

"Yes, it's the voices in my head asking why I agreed to come down here with you. Be quiet, please." Rogue pleaded in frustration.

"No, really, I'm serious," Rogue's companion replied, looking around to try and find the source of the noise.

Rogue only had to look at Kitty's face to realize there was something wrong.

"What?" Kitty's sister in-law asked curiously.

"I don't know." She answered somewhat distantly. Kitty suddenly phased right through the wall, obviously on purpose, and left Rogue standing alone in the hallway.

"Hey wait, come back you moron!" Rogue yelled at the wall, not caring if anyone heard her. "Where are you going? You just left me here! Thanks a lot!"

But Kitty wasn't at all concerned about whether Rogue was ok with her disappearance or not. She appeared on the other side of the wall, where the sound was much louder. There was much scuffling and angry voices coming from down the hallway. Kitty looked around the corner just long enough to see Toad and Pyro struggling with something when the writhing figure flickered for a moment and disappeared. A frightened cry was heard from the space where the men's victim was a moment ago, and Kitty knew at once who it was.

"Trissy." She whispered franticly as a girl with very odd looking eyes stepped out of a door, holding a soft ball and a baseball bat, most likely to go outside with them. Tao looked at Kitty with mild surprise. Kitty didn't blame her; it must be weird to see some complete stranger standing outside your room. Kitty looked at the bat for a moment before an idea struck her.

"May I borrow this?" she whispered to Tao, gesturing to the bat. Tao nodded and handed it over. Tao's strange eyes peeked around at her cousin and Toad to see that they seemed to be struggling with nothing. Triss appeared for a moment with a petrified, confused look on her face, and once again disappeared. Tao's eyes hardened as she pulled a lighter out of her back pocket. She looked to Kitty briefly before speaking.

"You get him." Tao explained, pointing to her cousin, John. She then nodded towards Toad and hissed, "I'll deal with him."

Kitty just agreed, wondering what the girl had in mind, and was shocked as Tao put a small flame into her mouth and kept it there with no expression. Pyro and Toad neared the corner and Tao punched her left palm lightly with her right fist, indicating that they should act now. Kitty nodded and swung at Pyro as hard as she could, knocking him out cold. The pregnant woman jumped as Tao spit the flames from her mouth, which grew into an enormous bobcat whose ear tips brushed the ceiling. Todd opened his mouth in a silent scream and dashed back down the corridor in fear for his life. Once Todd was gone, the cat was extinguished and Tao went to inspect Kitty's handiwork.

"Nice shot, mate." She commented seeing the large welt on her cousin's head. "I'm Tao Allerdyce, by the way."

Kitty shook hands with the younger girl and replied, "Kitty Wagner."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Wagner," Tao said politely. The two heard someone whimper and Kitty's attention was instantly turned toward Triss.

"Triss?" she called, looking for her daughter. "Trissy, where are you?"

"Mom?" Triss's voice called eagerly out of nowhere.

"I'm right here, Trissy, stay where you are and we'll find you." Kitty told a very bemused Triss.

"No need Mom, I'm right here." She said shakily.

"Where?" Kitty questioned, until she felt Triss's hand on her shoulder.

"This may sound weird, Mom, but I'm sorta invisible, and I don't know how to be visible again." Triss whined quietly, hoping her mother knew what to do.

"Ok, all I know to tell you is to concentrate on being visible again." Kitty explained.

"I'll try," she said uncertainly. Tao and Kitty waited for a moment before Triss flickered back into visibility.

"Cool." Triss exclaimed at her new found power. She then rushed up to hug her mother.

Kitty was furious, but also happy to have her Trissy back again.

"You know you're grounded, right?" Kitty asked quietly.

"Uh, yeah," Triss replied happily.

"Nice! I found the keys! Punk drummer strikes again!" Tao said, using a nickname for herself.

Triss grabbed the keys from Tao and said, "Meet you back here in a second!" She promptly was invisible again, and ran off with the keys.

"Is she always like that?" Tao asked.

"Pretty much," Kitty answered with a slightly perturbed expression. Tao and Kitty waited for Triss, not wanting her to come back and not find them, but also hoping Toad had not gone to tell anyone about Triss escaping. Suddenly a massive black cat skidded around the corner, causing Kitty's eyes to widen. Nate ran around the corner just in time to say, "Mom, it's ok. Don't freak."

"Nathaniel Wagner, get over here!" Kitty exclaimed at the site of her son.

Nate walked warily over and Kitty pulled him into a rib crushing embrace.

"Ow, Mom that hurts. Ow, Momma please, you're embarrassing me." Nate hissed irritably.

"I don't care." She replied as Will snickered. Raina swatted him in Nate's defense.

"Can we leave now?" Triss asked impatiently.

"Yes." Kitty answered satisfactorily.

The group started down the hallway when Kitty took a good look at the panther. She then remembered the paw prints in the forest and asked, "Kaye?"

The black leopard winked a yellow eye at her Aunt. Kitty's jaw dropped at seeing an animal wink at her. As she was gawping at Kaye, Kitty forgot to look where she was going and ran smack into Kurt.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, watching her husband hold his right eye in pain.

"That's ok, I didn't need that eye anyway," he answered, as he was knocked over by the twins. He stood up with one hanging from each arm.

Triss and Nate finally let go as Remy spoke, "Kaye!!"

Kaye, who was now a human, had no time to run as Remy practically suffocated her in a heartfelt embrace.

"Dad, let go. Oh c'mon Dad, just let go!!!" She gasped as Rouge rounded the corner.

"Mom, tell him to get off me!" Kaye begged.

"Sorry, he gets to crush you one minute for each year he's been gone." She laughed evilly.

Kaye groaned as Kurt said, "Let's get out of here."

The many people went noisily into the elevator, Remy still clinging onto Kaye and went up to floor two. They had to look around for a bit, before finding the others.

"Will!" Bobby yelled.

"No, no, Dad, no!" Will pleaded to his father, "Not the noogie, please."

Bobby promptly put his son into a headlock and did justice to him.

Ron was being inspected by his mother, who was not at all pleased about his condition.

"What happened to ye?" Rahne asked, slipping into her slight Scottish accent out of worry. "Your neck's all cut up, ye have a black eye, not to mention the bruises!"

"Let him go, Rahne." Roberto chuckled with Raina clutching him around the torso. "You can worry over him all you want once get home."

Rahne desisted, but wasn't entirely satisfied with her examination and promised Ron that he was going to the doctor as soon as she could find one. This time, they had to take the elevator in two loads, due to the amount of people. The Wagners and Ron and Rahne were waiting for the elevator to return when Kurt noticed the bandage wrapped around Triss's tail.

"Would you like to explain to me what this is?" he asked Triss.

"I'd like to know that too, lad." Raina said to Ron.

"Well..." she started to speak, when Kitty cut her off as the elevator came.

"Tell us later, I'm not sure I want to know right now." She spoke, shaking her head.

They went up one floor and found Jubilee holding Will just as Kitty had hugged Nate earlier. Raina deliberately laughed at Will, remarking on his laughing at Nate. Jean and Scott were looking Joel over, and Kaye made no effort not to laugh as Jean kissed him on the forehead, leaving a lipstick mark. Joel scowled and tried furiously to rub it off, but to no avail.

"What happened to your eye?" Jean exclaimed at Joel's discolored eye.

"I honestly don't know." He answered, still not very sure what had happened to his eye, or what it had done to him in that cell.

Once the adults were satiated with investigating their children and generally embarrassing them, they took three trips back to ground level.

"Mom?" Kaye asked, with Remy still wrapped around her. "Thanks for not embarrassing me, like these weirdoes."

Rogue smiled and replied, "You're most welcome."

The throng of people exited the dark cave by twos in certain intervals so as not to attract too much attention. Most were quite surprised that they hadn't been caught by now, for they hadn't been exactly quiet. Once everyone was outside, they made their way around the cave towards the assortment of trucks, jeeps, and the one van. They were walking across the span of gnarled trees in front of the cave, when a fast whirl wind surrounded the large group, causing the children to look around in confusion, while the adults clenched their teeth in anger.

"Pietro." Spyke growled, identifying his old enemy.

"Just-where-do-you-think-you're-going-huh?" He asked, stopping in front of his team, consisting of Blob, Toad, Pyro, Scarlet Witch, Kathleen, Avalanche, and Drake. The X-men's opponents were obviously looking for a fight, and their wish was soon granted.

"Kitty, you go with the kids back to the cars." Scott commanded, going into his leader role, and acting much as he had many years ago.

Kitty nodded, understanding she couldn't do a thing in a fight in her currently pregnant state. She quickly led all the children towards one of the trucks, but not before giving Drake a look of grim disappointment, and shooting Lance an icy glare that could freeze hell. The X-men stood in front of their old opponents in a fighting stance. The other team had always nurtured their children's powers, not the children themselves, and couldn't know that their challengers would fight to the death for the safety of their children.

(1)-Female wolf.

(2)-Here

(3)-three

(4)-two


	13. A Mutant Brawl

Disclaimer: Forgot one for Ch 12, so once again this counts for two chapters. I don't own anything.

ldypebsaby: I'm glad you reviewed. You know, I didn't get too many reviews for Ch 12

Tao's Girl: Hope you like this one. Talk to ya later!

Karakin: I don't know if you got my reply, but if you didn't I'm sorry if I offended you and I have no problem whatsoever with your story.

Tailfeather: Here's the fight. Enjoy!

Ch 13- A Mutant Brawl

"You know this sucks, right?" Kaye said, watching the start of what promised to be a real nasty fight.

The rest of the kids grumbled in reply, quite disappointed that they weren't given a chance in the struggle.

"I've been in way too many fights like this, and trust me, they're not fun," Kitty assured her niece.

"Well, Mom looks like she's enjoying herself," Kaye retorted irritably, remarking on how Rogue was happily trying to get at Lance.

"Yeah, well that's because she was my best friend before she was my sister in-law," Kitty explained, "When I first started to date Lance, your mother pulled him aside and said, 'If you break her heart, I'll break you."

Kaye smiled at this and watched her mother with a bit more interest than she had before. Raina shifted uncomfortably as her mother's ear was very nearly singed by Pyro. Ron looked at her worriedly, obviously longing to get out there and help his mother and father.

"Does anyone know where Tao is?" Kitty asked, wondering where the curious girl had disappeared to.

"Who?" Nate asked, after which many others asked this question.

A voice was heard, from behind the truck everyone was sitting in.

"I'm ok, mates."

Tao appeared beside them and everyone looked at her as Joel said, "So that's your name."

"Yup." She nodded, looking at the scene in front of her. "Whoa, what did I miss?"

"A lot," Triss replied, flinching as Kurt's tail was stepped on sharply by Toad.

"So what are we standin' here for?" Tao asked, watching her cousin prey on Bobby.

"Tao, I can't let you get involved in this," Kitty said sadly.

"Oh I know, 'cause you couldn't live with yourself if I got hurt," Tao replied sarcastically.

"Tao-"Kitty said, being cut off by her younger companion.

"I can't sit here and watch my cousin hurt yet another person," Tao finished bluntly. Tao promptly ran off into the fray.

"TAO!" Kitty yelled after her, hoping she would reconsider her unwise decision. But Tao didn't come back; she instead quickly immersed herself in a scrap against her cousin, John.

The other children were heartened by Tao's unruly behavior, and were seriously contemplating joining her.

"Guys, please," Kitty pleaded, "Your parents would kill me if you got in that fight."

"Somehow, I don't think my Mom would," Kaye laughed.

"Kaye, you know your Mom is, well, different," Kitty said, smiling a bit.

"Hey, where's Raina?" Nate asked, noticing she wasn't there.

"Oh no," Kitty sighed.

"Raina?" Ron asked, looking a frantic that his sister was gone.

"She's up there!" Triss exclaimed, pointing up into a tree that was right beside the truck.

Raina was indeed high in the tree, conversing with some type of bird.

"What is she doing?" Kitty asked, as she didn't yet know of Raina's power.

"She's talking to it. A lot of us sorta got powers while we were gone." Nate explained, hoping his mother wouldn't question more about this.

Suddenly the bird shot out of the treetop, to reveal a raven, bluish black and gorgeously iridescent. Raina waved to it as it swooped low, attacking Kathleen, who had been tussling with Roberto. The crow fluttered around Kathleen's head, clawing and pecking at her face. The ebony bird flew back to its new found friend, to collect its prize, which happened to be a handful of sunflower seeds. The kids smiled and clapped for Raina, who was thanking the bird which she had affectionately named "Nevermore". Nevermore collected the seeds in a large, folded leaf, and soared off with them. Raina climbed down to meet her friends, who were quite impressed with her at the moment. Kaye then whispered something to them, and they nodded. Kitty was about to question them, when the group split in two and ran in opposite directions into the woods. Kitty stood up quickly in alarm as they ran in a circle around the spread out battle, leaving Kitty and Rosie wondering what to do.

"Does we have to chase them now?" Rosie asked.

"I don't know," Kitty replied, wondering whether she help or just get in the way in this situation.

"I knows you don't wanna sit here an' watch them fight," Rosie stated, pointing to Triss and Nate, who were currently plotting on how they were going to run at Drake and Lance, who had teamed up to start the earthquake to end all earthquakes.

Kitty was mildly surprised at Rosie's simple logic, and inquired, "So, what do you think we should do?"

Rosie's common sense made another appearance as she said, "I thinks we should wait here unless somethin' really bad happens."

Kitty smiled, marveling at how sometimes a child's simple judgment could surpass that of and adult, and spoke, "I think that's a great idea."

The children had come around the battle in their two groups, and had come up behind their enemies, waiting for a good shot at their separate opponents.

"You know, maybe it would be better to just go at them in one big charge," Raina reasoned.

"Hey, that's a good idea," Nate commented.

"Or, we could give them a show of force," Triss suggested.

"That would work too," Will nodded.

"Or, we could combine them both," Kaye said, smiling like a child who had found a piece of candy.

"How?" Joel asked, obviously puzzled.

"Well, we come out of here, giving 'em a show of force," she explained, "and then, when they're standin' there, thinking they can beat us with no problem, we charge."

"I like that," Raina complemented.

"Let's go," Ron hissed in excitement.

Everyone put on their fiercest faces and attitudes. Ron was suddenly in his wolf form, snarling and frothing at the mouth. Triss managed to flicker half way into invisibility, giving her the effect of changing colors with the background. Raina had a mini army of birds, foxes, a coyote, two enormous snakes, and Nevermore perched on her shoulder, cawing harshly. Will had conjured up an enormous, icy cudgel, equipped with the odd barb here and there. Nate still had Kaye's watch and had sent it into a jerky spasm. Joel still had no idea what his new power was, but his eye glowed an unnatural silver. To top it all off, Kaye appeared in the middle of the group, making a great show of baring her teeth, and extending her claws with each slow, sinister step. Their opponents turned around to see this menacing group, and laughed, though there was a fairly long pause before it.

"You thought a show of force would scare us away?" The Scarlet Witch asked, smiling as though she were actually baring her teeth.

"I'd say it almost worked," Rogue whispered to Remy behind Wanda's back, looking at Kaye in awe. Many of the parents like Rouge had not yet seen their childrens' mutant powers.

"Remy thought you had seen Kaye as the panther," Remy frowned.

"No," said Rogue breathily, "She must have turned back when I rounded the corner."

Just as Wanda finished talking, Kaye sprang, signaling the others to charge as well. Each of the children scattered to where their parents had been struggling with their opponents. The X-Men had been losing badly, because everyone apart from those living at the institute had not really exercised their powers for a long time. But combined with their children, sheer numbers were taking its toll on Pietro's team. The younger ones were also experimenting with their powers, even those who had had them for a while. Will was having much fun toying with the large club; he also broke one of Kathleen's metal weapons by icing it over, causing it to become brittle. Triss was helping her father with his opponent, Toad. She ran around him, invisible, emitting a loud giggle every once in a while, sometimes appearing to give him a taunting wave, only to disappear again, causing him to spin around wildly trying to find her. Finally he made the mistake of turning his back on Kurt, to be kicked hard in the head, knocking him out cold.

A lot of people were trying to get to Drake and Lance, which was not an easy task. They were situated back to back, creating a massive quake that surrounded them in a circle. Almost every time someone tried to brave the tremors, they were knocked over almost instantly. Jean had even been knocked unconscious as her foot sipped on a dislodged rock and she fell hard on her head against the roots of a towering oak. Those who might have been able to stop the team of father and son couldn't get away as they were way too preoccupied with their own assailants. Wolverine was being held by Kathleen due to the indestructible metal that was worked into his bone structure. Many people were being held up by the Scarlet Witch, including Roberto, Bobby, Jubilee, and quite a few Jamies. Joel and Will were both trying to get a shot at Kathleen, which was extremely difficult. Kathleen was equipped with large metal orbs, about the size and weight of a shot-put ball. Will was trying hard to keep the whirling weights from his friend's head, while Joel tried to figure out how to help Will. Somehow, Kathleen had figured out how to keep a good hold on Wolverine, and still send the deadly metal missiles at Will and Joel's heads.

"You know, maybe you should just try to use your power, even if you don't know what it does," Will gasped, ducking as one of the metal globes nearly hit him in the jaw.

"What if my dad did that? He might blow away half the Institute!" Joel exclaimed.

Another shot put ball zoomed past Will, ruffling his hair and he shouted, "Just do it!"

Joel agreed after one of the balls whipped past his ear, scraping it badly. His one silver eye glowed as Kathleen sent one of the metal orbs strait at him. Suddenly, he sent it right back at her. Will grinned and said, "I know what your power is, you're a copycat."

"What?" Joel questioned, watching Kathleen duck.

"Remember in that cell? You copied Kaye, when she was trying to get away, and now you just copied her," Will replied, pointing at Kathleen.

"Like Kaye's Mom?" Joel asked, hoping he could question more before Kathleen started attacking again.

"No, I don't think so," Will shook his head, "I think it's more like one move, mutant or not."

"Really? Prove it," Joel said in exasperation, looking at Kathleen prepare herself for another strike.

Will kicked Joel lightly, and immediately kicked him back in the same style. Joel nodded, but then started to feel tired.

"What are you doing?" asked Will, watching Joel sink to the ground.

"I don't know why, but that took a lot of energy," He said, not sounding as scared as he should.

Joel then collapsed, but not unconscious yet, as he watched Will try to block one of the globes go straight at his forehead. He was wondering how Will would handle this, when in a blur of color, Pietro moved Will out of the way, leaving Joel exposed to Kathleen's weapon.

Ron, Rahne, Raina, and Kaye were trying desperately to bring down Fred. They were sending all of their efforts towards him at once, attempting to overwhelm him. Kaye was just about to take another shot at the Blob, when she saw Joel lying on the ground with a metal ball aimed right at his head. She dashed across the space between her and Joel, hoping to get there in time. Joel truly thought that Kathleen really was going to hit with that heavy orb, when a black blur hit Kathleen, causing her to shoot backwards. The shot-put ball missed Joel's head, but barely. He sat up to see Kaye, breathing heavily, standing over an unconscious Kathleen.

"You saved my life," He said, looking at her in wonder. Of all people, Kaye was the one to rush over. He was greatly surprised that someone so defensive and reserved, someone who was the complete opposite of him, would make an effort to make sure he lived to see another day.

"Don't read too much into it," A human Kaye replied, helping Joel up.

"Why did you?" he asked.

Kaye, who didn't really want to answer the question, said, "You know, I can put you right back into the line of fire any time I want."

Joel fell quiet, thinking long after Kaye had left to go back and help Ron, Rahne, and Raina.

Pietro was probably the biggest problem in the whole skirmish. He was way too fast for anyone to catch. Jean was unconscious, so she couldn't stop him using telekinesis; therefore, he had no limits. The only reason he hadn't stopped Kaye from saving Joel, was because he never thought she would. He held a struggling Will by the shirt collar, while Bobby and Jubilee were absolutely terrified to see their son in the grasp of such a powerful mutant. Wanda smiled as she watched the boy's parents writhe helplessly, panicking in her grasp. The majority was tussling with Quicksilver, and were not accomplishing anything. Evan had tried pinning him down with spikes, Scott had tried shooting him down, as had Amara and Ray; Kurt was attempting to catch him using teleportation, but that had failed also. Triss had gone invisible, but that didn't help, for even if Pietro couldn't find her, he was too fast to catch. Nate had even tried to stop time altogether, to find he had only slowed it down. Nate looked around him, to see that everything was in slow motion due to the time lapse. He then saw Pietro, who seemed to be moving normally.

"Score," Nate whispered, seeing Pietro whirl around in shock. Quicksilver was used to being able to outrun everybody, and for the first time in many years, someone caught up with him. Nate hit him hard on the back of his head, knocking him unconscious instantly. He then brought time back to its normal pace, to find everyone staring at him. While all the bystanders were sitting there doing nothing, Lance took the chance to send a small earthquake towards Nate, sending him forward, where he hit his arm badly on a boulder that was jutting out of the ground. The arm snapped with a sickening crack. Nate lay stretched out on the ground, unable to move, his arm grossly distorted. Kitty and Kurt were at Nate's side immediately. Kurt lifted him up, letting Kitty look at his arm.

"It's definitely broken," she said.

Triss by now was there too, whimpering frantically in worry at her brother's face which was contorted in anguish. Nate was trying his best not to cry, in fear of being laughed at for being a baby. Raina, seeing this, came over and said, "Nobody's going to make fun of you Nate, you can cry if you want."

Nate either took this advice, or couldn't bear the pain any longer, and let the tears run down his face. Nate's tears dropped on Kurt's sleeve as Kitty let go of her son's shoulder, turning around sharply to face Lance. Her ex-husband didn't have time to fight back as she reared back and slapped Lance, leaving a vast hand print on his face. The group looked on in amazement, having never seen someone hit another human being that hard. Kitty was shaking in pure rage, and in the excitement, her water broke.

"Why now?" Rogue asked the heavens, looking up at the sky as Kitty put a hand over her mouth in surprise.

"It's Murphy's Law," Kaye replied, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and in the worst possible way, place, and time."


	14. The Outcast

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, you know the drill.

paprika90: Thanks, glad you liked Ch 13.

Mimatrimo-4eva: Thanks! That was quite complimentary, glad you like it!

Tao's Girl: Luv your story can't wait for more! Hope you like this chappie!

Karakin: Cool, I'll look put for your story.

bobtheheadlesschicken: Yeah, it seems like Murphy did write life!

ldypebsaby: Yes, damn Murphy! Hope you like this chapter.

Ch 14- The Outcast

Kitty stood, trying to register what had happened. She was taken out of her short trance when Triss ran over. Triss tried to pull her mother out of Lance's path before he could get a shot at her, but failed when he sent a fairly large tremor right at Kitty. Triss was sent rolling head over tail, while Kitty only stayed on her feet because Rogue caught her before she fell over backwards.

"In case you didn't figure it out, now would be the time to get out of here," Rogue reasoned with her sister in-law.

Kitty nodded dazedly, turning towards the sparsely wooded area where the trucks were. Kurt turned Kitty towards the small clearing as Triss and Raina supported Nate. The injured group had almost reached one of the trucks when Lance sent yet another quake around them, blocking all forms of transportation. This time Kitty did fall, landing roughly on the ground with a cry of pain.

"C'mon, Drake! We may be able to get 'em, but not without you," Lance commented in hopes of recapturing the children and even taking the adults too.

Drake stood in the middle of the squabble, looking first at his father's eager face and then to his mother who was staggering up with the help of Kurt and Rogue. Drake didn't know what to do. He looked back to Lance, the one who had always treated him like an adult, never like a baby. Then he looked to Kitty, the one who had always looked at him with a motherly adoration in her eyes, but who sometimes made him feel like he was treated a bit childishly. He didn't like being treated like a baby, but maybe being treated like an adult all the time wasn't a good thing either. Should he go ahead and help his father as planned and risk his mother having a baby in the woods or quarantined in his father's headquarters? Or should he help his mother and give her a better chance of getting proper medical attention.

"Drake!" Lance growled angrily, "What are you doing, get over here and help me!"

Drake was trying frantically to decide his course of action, when he remembered what Triss had said in that cell. He had decided to listen in on the younger kids when he heard his name mentioned. 'I'm hoping he isn't permanently on this side though. Every thing he does, I'm guessing, is bribed or blackmailed.' she had said. Drake thought for a moment before coming to the conclusion that Triss was right. Every thing he did around his dad indeed was bribed or blackmailed. Lance's earthquake suddenly was moved away from the vehicles and around a certain point between him and Drake. It took Lance a moment before realizing that Drake was working against him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lance snarled, trying hard to overpower his son.

"Leave her alone," Drake gasped, indicating Kitty.

The two struggled against each other as Rogue and Kurt ushered Kitty towards the one van as she tried to look on in fear for her son.

"We can't just leave him here!" she exclaimed.

"Kitty, you idiot!" Rogue exclaimed, "We are four hours into the woods by car. There is no one at the institute to bring the jet out here to find us, so that means were driving for nearly four hours, and you're infamous for having fast labors! Put two and two together, for heavens sakes!"

"Mom, we don't know how long Drake can hold Lance, we have to get out of here while we have the chance," Triss exclaimed, looking back at her half brother in worry.

Kitty knew this deep down and allowed Kurt to help her into one of the seats, while Triss helped Nate into the very back, along with Will who was keeping Nate's broken arm encased in ice. Rogue seated herself in the driver's seat, as she was quite a good driver, and Kaye climbed in and sat shotgun. Rogue looked out the window quickly to make sure everyone was situated in one of the trucks and started the car in hopes of leaving the scene as quickly as possible. Every person in the van, except Rogue, looked back at Drake and Lance's struggle. Drake turned for a moment to see if his friends had gotten away, and didn't notice the tall, unsteady pine that was swaying dangerously due to the large tremors circling around father and son. The tree swayed for a moment on the spot, before falling and landing on both Lance and Drake, blocking all view of the two. Triss whimpered, Kurt and Nate stared open mouthed in disbelief, Kaye sat in grave silence, and Kitty wept silently.

"Excuse me for being this straight forward, but do you think he's dead?" Kaye quietly asked the shocked car.

"I don't know," Kurt answered, his arm around Kitty's shuddering form.

The group rode quietly, and the silence was only broken when one of Kitty's contractions hit, making her tense up and often moan softly. The car would then grow quiet again and it would be a good thirty to forty minutes before anything else happened. The grimly silent drive lasted for about an hour and a half before Kitty's contractions became closer together and increasingly more painful. Kitty had her face buried in Kurt's shoulder as he rubbed a comforting hand over her lower back, which was hurting badly. As Kitty's soft moans turned into loud shouts, everyone realized that this promised to be another speedy labor and that they were running out of time.

"What are we going to do? What if we don't get Mom back to the Institute in time?" Triss whispered to Nate after their mother emitted a piercing yell of distress.

"I have no idea," he answered, wincing quietly due to his broken arm. "If we do get back in time, it'll be a close one."

Triss nodded as Will kept Nate's icy cast from melting.

"Do you think Auntie Rogue can drive any faster without running into a tree or something?" Nate asked, watching his father's hand be crushed by his mother.

Kaye looked back at the three from the front, having overheard them due to her fairly new, though improved hearing. She mouthed, 'I'll see,' before turning to her mother to ask her to go a little faster. After Kaye had spoken to her, Rouge exclaimed, "Of course I'll go faster. I was wondering if Will's parents would be happy with me going eighty, and I wasn't sure so I just decided not to. At this point though, no offense Will, but I'm speeding up whether your parents like it or not."

Will smiled, as he loved nothing more than going near eighty in a car, because his mother never went too much above seventy. He cackled softly as he heard the engine roar, watching Rogue in her element. It didn't take long for the other vehicles to catch on, and the soon sped up as well. Even with their increased speed, the others couldn't keep up with Rogue because even if they were going the same pace, their steering couldn't rival Rogue's. The rest often took a bit of a roundabout way around things while Rogue just cut a straight line through the trees. By the time the van skidded in front of the Institute, Rogue had been able to take about twenty minutes off the four hour drive. Kitty could barely walk, for her knees buckled in anguish, so Kurt and Rogue had to help her from both sides. The others shortly pulled up in front of the immense building also, following the three inside. Hank McCoy soon took charge of Kitty's predicament, being a doctor, and got her down stairs to the infirmary at once. Kaye, Triss, Nate, and Will met down in the lower levels not far from the sick bay, while most of the others dispersed down the hall into one of the two rec. rooms located in the mansion. Rogue was also outside the sickbay, sitting close by.

"That is one impatient baby," Kaye commented, nodding towards the infirmary.

The rest nodded in agreement.

"I really thought we'd have more time than we did," Triss said, remarking on how her mother had barely made it to the infirmary before she began to deliver.

They sat here like this for a good while, making the odd comment here and there, and listening to Kitty's agonized screams. The foursome waited quietly, especially Will. Since he wasn't in the family, Will didn't have much to say, and was just there to keep ice on Nate's arm to prevent swelling. The small party was sitting in their stupor when a deafening shriek was heard from Kitty, followed by a thin wailing cry. The group sat up straight instantly. Triss and Nate smiled, while Kaye and Rogue's mouths twitched ever so slightly. Kaye sat, seemingly looking at the ceiling for a moment, before turning to Nate and asking, "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

Nate shook his head.

"I bet you ten dollars it's a girl," Kaye challenged him.

"Ok, sure," Nate replied, looking at Kaye who had a mysteriously confident face on.

Mr. McCoy peeked around the door and motioned them in. Will stayed outside the infirmary, and went down the hall towards the others. Triss and Nate walked in, followed by Kaye and Rogue to find Kitty, who was exhausted, but overjoyed all the same. She smiled at them, cradling the new edition to the family.

Triss was ecstatic about the new baby, and was at the bedside in a trice, peering at the tiny bundle.

"Is it a boy?" Nate asked, none too keen on parting with ten dollars.

"No, it's a girl," Kitty chuckled, seeing the look about Nate's face as Kaye held her hand out expectantly.

Nate assured Kaye that he would pay her, when he got the money.

"What's her name?" Rogue asked from the corner.

"We haven't decided yet," Kurt replied, smiling down upon the slightly cross-eyed and bemused face of his new daughter.

"She's so cute!" Triss tittered, making the baby turn to her big sister in surprise. The tiny newborn looked very similar to her big sister, including blue skin, a tail, and misty yellow eyes.

Kaye walked over and looked at the infant from a fairly large distance.

"Kaye, you look like you're at a fine arts museum, the way you're looking at her," Kitty giggled.

"No, actually she has to touch everything in the fine arts museum," Rogue sighed, "She's touched the Liberty Bell, and I think even 'Starry Night'."

"When did you see 'Starry Night'?" Triss asked in wonderment.

Kaye smiled and said, "It was in Atlanta a couple years ago, and we went to go see it before they shipped it back off to Europe. We got thrown out after I almost chipped some of the paint cause it wasn't stuck to the canvas too well."

"How come security didn't catch you before?" Kurt laughed.

"I have my ways," Kaye answered, her eyes shifting a bit.

"So, are you going to name her at all, or just call her it?" Nate asked.

"We're trying to think of something that fits her." answered Kitty.

"What do you mean?" Triss asked in a confused tone.

"Same way we knew you were a Triss and not an Ashley," Kurt replied.

"Oh, I get it," Triss stated.

"So, any ideas?" Nate asked curiously.

"Hmm, well, I don't think she looks like an Ashley either," Kitty remarked, "What do you think, Kurt?"

But Kurt was in the next room, talking in rapid German to his parents.

"Do you think it would be bad to wait to name her? I mean, it sounds sorta weird to me, but I don't think we wanna name her something that doesn't fit her either," Triss asked, peeking at her sister from another angle, as if it would help her think easier.

"I don't think it would be bad, we sat for almost half a day before we came up with Triss. I promise you we aren't going let her go without a name," Kitty smiled.

Once Kurt hung up the phone, he resumed his place beside Kitty. Hank appeared from an adjoining room, and called Nate over to him to have a look at the broken arm.

"Well, you sure have done a number on your arm, Nate. I'm pretty sure you've broken both bones in your arm, but I'll do an x-ray to make sure," The gentle giant informed Nate.

Nate breathed sharply as Beast prodded his arm lightly, feeling where the breaks were. After he had taken an x-ray, it was clear that Nate had in fact broken both bones.

"I'm going to set your arm now, Nate. First, you'll get an injection, to help with pain"

Nate quailed at the mention of a shot.

"It'll be worse if you don't take the shot, Nate," Hank warned.

"Oh, please take it Nate. Remember when I broke my ankle, and I didn't take the shot? It was horrible," Triss wailed.

But Nate refused, and was soon sorry. Hank McCoy took Nate's arm, and jerked the bones back in to place with a tremendous squeeze on the broken limb. Nate yowled loudly, after which he whispered, "I should have taken the shot, I should have taken the shot."

Nate's eyes glistened with unshed tears as Beast commenced to putting a plaster cast around his arm. The whole time, Triss clung to her twin's good hand, looking quite upset that Nate was in such pain. After the cast had dried, Nate ran over to his parents, for emotional support. Kaye tried hard not to laugh, after which Nate frowned at her from the folds of his father's shirt. Rogue and Kaye left to go find Remy, and soon Triss and Nate left to go find a shower, as they were both filthy. Everyone in the Institute stopped by to see the new baby, and soon went about their way. Kitty fell asleep quickly, out of weariness, followed by the rest of the Institute because it was getting quite late. Many hours later, around one in the morning, Kitty was brought out of her sleep by the baby's small squeal. She looked over, to see that Kurt hasn't woken up, though Kitty had always said he could sleep through a hurricane. Kitty lifted herself carefully from her bed, and padded over towards the bawling infant. She lifted her daughter from the crib that had been brought down to the infirmary, and rocked her until she stopped crying.

"What are we going to do with you?" Kitty whispered, remarking on how the baby didn't have a name yet. No one could find anything that suited the child. Kitty then heard a rustling out in the hallway. She stopped to listen, thinking it was just her imagination, when she heard it again. Kitty frowned, wondering who would be down in the lower levels at one in the morning, when whatever was coming down the hall ran right into the door to the sickbay. Kitty was really starting to get uneasy, and she awakened Kurt without a word. He blinked sleepily, but came wide awake as he heard someone grasp the doorknob and walk over the threshold. Amazingly, the baby was wide awake, but had stayed quiet, until whoever who had been feeling around for the light switch, stumbled and fell. A noisy crash followed, after which Triss, Nate, Kaye, and Rogue appeared in the room, turning on the lights. They found Kitty and Kurt, standing curiously in a corner with the now screeching infant, and a very confused Drake, in a heap on the floor. Everyone's eyes grew wide seeing Drake, and they wondered how he had gotten back to the Institute. Kitty handed Kurt the baby, and immediately was at Drake's side, trying her best to help him up. By now, the Professor, Hank, and over half of the Institute was standing in or around the doorway, looking curiously at the scene before them. Drake stood, swaying, and then sat down hard on the bed. Triss then noticed that her half-brother's right foot was badly mangled, and notified Beast. Mr. McCoy stitched and bandaged it, the whole time the room was silent. Hank broke the silence by saying, "Your foot's really badly lamed, Drake. You'll be able to walk on it again, but I suspect you'll have a limp afterwards. There's no telling how bad of a limp now, but if you stay off that foot, it probably won't be that bad."

Drake nodded, looking at the floor as he wasn't too keen on all this attention he was getting. Kitty couldn't stand it any longer. She had been trying not to embarrass her son, but couldn't restrain herself any longer and clung to her son, crying tears of joy that he was okay. Drake hugged his mother back, not caring that Kaye was making no effort to conceal her laughter. Drake looked back at Triss and Nate, who were standing in a corner with their father, and baby sister, trying their best to look unobtrusive. He smiled at them and said, "Thanks guys."

"For what?" Triss asked curiously.

"For not ditching me," he replied.

"You're welcome," they grinned in unison.

Drake then heard a small wail, and saw the squirming little bundle of blankets that was his new sister.

"Would you like to meet your new sist-"Kitty paused as she remembered Drake's last reaction to Triss and Nate being called his siblings.

"Yeah, I'd love to meet my new sister," he replied, as the little baby was placed in his arms.

"What's her name?" he asked.

"We can't think of one that's appropriate for her," Kitty said

"Hmmmm, how 'bout Iris? Iris Leah Wagner?" He suggested.

"That's so pretty, Drake," Triss whispered.

"I like that," Kitty smiled warmly, "Iris Leah Wagner it is."


	15. A New Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, you know the drill.

Author's Note: This is the last chapter, guys! When you review, tell me if you want a sequel or not. If I don't get enough reviews, though, I might not do one regardless, so review if you want me to do a sequel!

ldypebsaby: Tao's in this chapter, and you'll have to figure out later if Lance lived.

paprika90: That wasn't the last chapter, this one is though.

Tao's Girl: Hey, tell me tomorrow (or today depending on when you see this) what did you sign up for on the beta thing? C U tomorrow or the next day.

Chapter 15- A New Beginning

The children of the Institute were quite happy to be in an air conditioned house again, and were taking full advantage of the mansion's seemingly endless food supply. They were biding their time until their parents would lecture them about how dangerous and irresponsible it was to run off like that, and give them a lengthy and quite miserable punishment. Tao, who had been allowed to come to the Institute with the rest of the kids, hadn't a reason to worry, and wasn't as tense as her fellows. Triss and Nate had just sneaked two gigantic cartons of ice cream from the freezer, intending to share the frozen dessert with everyone else, when they heard their father call, "Triss, Nate, I need to see you for a moment!"

The twins' eyes widened, as did everyone else when they heard their own parents calling their names also. Kaye was slightly ill at ease when she heard Rogue yell for her, sounding a bit peeved, and hissed, "Hide!"

The others thought this to be a grand idea, and dashed off to their own hiding spots. Kaye and Ron were down in the lower levels, lurking in the shadows of an unused room, using their mutant forms to blend in with the gloom. Nate found sanctuary in the large, dusty attic with Raina and Will, Joel hid with Rosie in the jet, and Triss crawled into a closet, turning invisible to add to the difficulty of finding her. Unfortunately for them, it was no trouble for their parents to figure out their little game, and they were quickly found. Even Triss was caught, much to her dismay, and it was a sight to see when Kitty, without any hesitation, pulled her daughter from the closet by the ear. It was more interesting, though, to see Triss scrambling across the foyer trying to ease the pulling on her ear. All the children were marched into separate rooms for their parents to deal with them. Triss, Nate, and Drake sat in a row, looking at the floor as Kitty, and in Triss and Nate's case Kurt, frowned down upon them. They sat in this sheepish silence for a while, before Kitty spoke, "Would any one like to tell me what they were thinking?"

"Thinking what?" Nate muttered, slouching in his chair.

"Nate, you know good and well what she means," Kurt chided.

Nate continued to study the floor, and Triss and Drake joined him.

"I asked you a question," Kitty reminded her children.

"We, um, just wanted to make you mad," Drake bravely answered.

"And why is that?" his mother asked, arms crossed.

"Because you and your friends were all talking about all those missions and stuff you did when you were kids. And then you were talking about how we were too young to do all that stuff and we got mad and...," Triss murmured, choosing not to finish her sentence.

"You could have gotten yourselves killed!" Kitty howled, forgetting that Iris was there, making the baby whimper softly.

"But we didn't," Nate pointed out.

"You came close!" Kurt replied. "You ran off, got taken by our enemies, then tried to fight them, knowing you were disobeying your mother and me, and don't even get me started on the whole panther incident."

"Wait, how do you know about the panther thing?" Triss asked curiously.

"That kind of information comes easy with two telepaths in the house," Kitty sighed, cradling Iris whose tiny whimper had progressed into a good, steady wail.

"Ok, so what's our punishment?" Nate whimpered, realizing what was coming.

Kurt looked at them grimly and said, "You will be cleaning the mansion."

"WHAT!" Nate protested, after which Kitty hushed him, trying to get the new born to calm down

"All by ourselves?" Triss squeaked questioningly.

"No, you each will have certain jobs," Kurt answered.

"Triss, you and Kaye will be cleaning the jet, the helicopter and the floor in that room," Kitty stated, "Nate, you will be dusting, since your arm's broken, but you have no help."

When Kurt saw Nate's relieved expression, he said, "I'm warning you, this house is very big, and very dusty."

Finally, Kitty turned to Drake and said, "You will be beating rugs and vacuuming."

"All of the rugs?" he asked.

"Yes," she told him.

"How many rugs are in the house?" He complained.

"Ten," she replied with a finality in her voice telling Drake to be quiet.

"This is so not fair!" Triss whined.

"Oh, I assure you it is fair, everyone else is doing the same thing," Kurt snapped.

"Joel is cleaning the floors on the lower levels and washing all the cars, except the room you and Kaye are doing, Triss. Ron is cleaning the bathrooms; Raina is doing laundry and dealing with a bat infestation in the attic."

Kitty was cut off as Nate asked, "Am I dusting the attic?"

"Yes, after Raina takes care of the bats," Kurt answered.

"Tom is working outside in the greenhouse and on the front, side, and back yards, Will is cleaning and checking chlorine levels in the pool, and cleaning the kitchen, and Rosie is cleaning her room," Kitty finished.

All the children groaned as they left the room, being told that their work started as soon as they left. Most of the parents were leaving to attend to some business, and that left only Ororo, Logan, and Hank in charge of the ten children. They all made sure the kids had gotten to work, and then settled down to do other things. Logan soon got restless, though, thinking it was too quiet. He decided to check on them once more, sensing mischief. Logan started with the attic, where Raina was, and found both Raina and Nate. Raina, instead of getting rid of the bats, was chatting happily with them while Nate gazed at her, eyes slightly unfocused. Raina giggled as she saw this, but stopped upon seeing Logan in the doorway, looking very perturbed. Nate scurried out the door, and Raina hurriedly started to tell her new friends why they couldn't stay in the attic. Logan growled softly and proceeded downstairs, peeking in one of the bathrooms and finding Ron on the way. He looked out the window to find Tom thinking over a bed of flowers, and Drake beating a very large rug with an equally large tennis racket. Logan then made his way downstairs to the lower levels, after peeking in on Tao who was channel surfing, to make sure that Joel, Triss, and Kaye were working also. After slipping and sliding down the hall way due to Joel's soapy mop, he made it to the hangar. He swept the cavernous room with a hasty glance, but only found Kaye. Logan growled in annoyance, and once again performed a clumsy sort of skate down the wet hallway to the elevator. After getting to the floor above, the agitated man walked out side to see if Will was behaving any better than most of his friends. Will was not by the pool, he was in the pool, obviously not cleaning or checking chlorine levels, but rather trying to fish something out of the aquamarine depths. Will surfaced for air, and Logan found Triss as he heard a girlish giggle from behind him. Triss was trying to draw attention to herself and was succeeding. Will turned a bright red color and dove back under water. Logan had had quite enough. He hissed exasperatedly, "What are you doing?"

Triss wheeled around sharply, having not realized that anyone was there, and Will looked at Logan warily when he resurfaced. Logan repeated his question, and Will answered, "Triss dropped her bracelet in the water, and I was trying to get it out."

"Why didn't you use the net?" Logan growled, pointing to the net hanging off a long pole that was situated against one of the three gazebos on the Institute's grounds.

Will looked at the net sheepishly and leaped out of the water and grabbed the net, and dipped it into the pool, bringing out a delicate, silver bracelet. He tossed it at Triss, who caught it deftly with her tail before scampering off into the house to help Kaye like she was supposed to be doing. An irritated Logan shut his eyes for a moment, trying very hard to control his temper, and made his way back inside, leaving Will to deal with the pool. After going inside, Logan sat down in a chair, in the same room Hank and Ororo were in. They were both buried in a book and paid no attention to his angry expression. Storm looked up as Nate passed by the room, sneezing loudly due to the dust that had settled in his fur. As she saw Logan's heated countenance, she laughed softly and murmured, "They're worse than their parents, aren't they?"

Hank chuckled as Logan nodded wordlessly. The three adults sat in peace, but not for long. Suddenly, some type of music that the children obviously had selected came blaring over the loud speakers that were installed in every room all over the mansion.

"How the heck did they do that?" Hank shouted over the clamor.

"How should I know?" Logan snarled.

The three scattered about the cavernous house, looking for the source of the earsplitting music. Of course, Logan got to glide down the soapy lower levels again. He looked in on Triss and Kaye, and found Joel in that room also. His eyes widened as he saw the topsy-turvy scene before him. The trio had somehow found eight thick sponges, and had strapped them to their feet with duct tape in order to skate about the slippery floor. It was quite a sight to see a panther with four sponges on her feet have a skate-off with Joel. Logan didn't say a word, because he was set on stopping the music first. The source of the awful din happened to be in the room overlooking the danger room. The twins, having inherited their mother's skill with technology, had wired the source of the loudspeakers to play music. After the music was turned off, Logan spoke threateningly over the loud speaker, "The next person who does one thing wrong, will be punished."

The next time Logan walked down the hallway, Ron was in the bathroom, cleaning the toilets with the brush instead of dancing in the hallway with it, Kaye, Triss, and Joel had taken the sponges off their feet, and Joel had proceeded to the garage to start on the countless vehicles it contained. Will had worked his way to the kitchen, Raina was in the laundry room, throwing bed sheets into the washer, Drake had begun the long process of vacuuming, Nate was dusting the attic, sneezing loudly, and Rosie had already cleaned half of her room. Once the rest of the adults got home, the place was spotless. The parents smiled at their children for the hard work they had done. Soon, the Professor spoke, "Children, I have something to tell you."

Their parents smiled knowingly as the children stepped forward curiously.

"As you know, your parents when they were younger lived here for a time, to gain control over their abilities, learn to use and live with them. I am offering you a place here at the Xavier Institute, to stay just as your parents did nearly twenty five years ago," the Professor stated.

The children looked around in excitement, obviously grateful of the Professor's offer. Tao tried her best to look unobtrusive, hiding her hopefulness.

"Yes, Tao, you are being offered a place here too," Xavier smiled and Tao beamed in happiness.

"I have also proposed that your parents move in also, as they seem to have lost a lot of what they learned here," The Professor spoke.

The children looked around excitedly at their parents, happy that they were staying too. Then something struck Triss, "Mom, what about our pets?" she asked.

"The Professor agreed to let us bring them too, as long as we brush the cats every day, since Rogue's allergic to cats," she answered soothingly.

"And Sammy?" Raina asked about her fat, yellow hamster. Roberto nodded smilingly at the thought of the plump little rodent.

The Professor looked wistfully at the children he had taught, wondering how they had grown up so quickly. He looked to them, to their children and said, "I think it's time for a new beginning.


	16. Author's Note

Author's Note-

Hey, my readers! As you can tell, I've changed my pen name. I've also decided to write a sequel, despite the disappointing amount of reviews. Reviewers, you really don't know how much it means when you review, considering that my review numbers have been decreasing. Anyway, I will be writing a sequel, however, I am writing a fic in another category here at , and I don't know how long it will take me to start a sequel, cause that depends on how long this new story will take. Thanks for your reviews, and feel free to e-mail me if you wish.

-Aralia

(formerly crazysilverkitty)


End file.
